Journal of Higher Education Research

The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has boosted the efficiency of college students' academic writing, yet it also brings profound risks of alienation. Currently, college students are confronted with three major dilemmas in AI-assisted writing: flattened language expression, outsourced thinking activities, and instrumentalized academic practice, which gradually erode their critical and creative thinking. These dilemmas stem from multiple factors: the lag of university writing education systems in responding to technological changes, the insufficient academic literacy and loss of subjectivity among students, as well as the excessive prevalence of technological rationality in society. To address these issues, joint efforts from universities, students and the whole society are required. We need to build an education system centered on critical thinking and AI literacy, consolidate students' dominant role in human-AI collaboration, and foster a social environment advocating "technology for good". In this way, we can safeguard human spiritual emancipation and all-round development amid the technological wave.