Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly transforming creative fields, raising critical questions about its impact on artistic identity and authorship, which also influence art education. While studies have explored GenAI adoption, the diversity of art students’ subjective perspectives on collaborating with these tools remains under-examined. This study uses Q methodology, a mixed-methods approach to investigating subjectivity, to explore the distinct perspectives art students hold regarding their creative identity when collaborating with GenAI. We conducted a Q study with 40 university students from various art-related disciplines (e.g., visual arts, design, music, animation) across different academic levels. Participants sorted 42 statements reflecting diverse viewpoints on GenAI collaboration, authorship, ethics, and creative control. By-person factor analysis revealed five distinct perspectives: (1) Human-centered directors, who treat GenAI as a tool under strong human intention; (2) Authorship guardians, who resist AI co-authorship and prioritise authenticity and ethical boundaries; (3) Conflicted co-creators, who use GenAI but struggle with ownership, disclosure, and earned pride; (4) Pragmatic integrators, who adopt GenAI for workflow efficiency while keeping craft expertise central; and (5) Enthusiastic explorers, who embrace AI’s creative possibilities, open to co-agency and novel expression. These findings offer a nuanced typology of student viewpoints, moving beyond simple acceptance or rejection. We further propose a two-dimensional framework that maps these perspectives according to students’ openness to GenAI and their sharing of creative agency with it. This research contributes empirical insights into how art students negotiate creative identity with GenAI, provides a valuable framework for educators to develop tailored pedagogical strategies addressing diverse student needs and concerns, and offers implications for designing more human-centered GenAI tools for creative practice.

1. While her friends struggle with new smartphone features alone, Grandma Zhou, a 64-year-old retired teacher, has found a patient tutor. “How do I send a video message to my son?” she carefully ty...

Social connectedness is essential to the well-being of older adults, yet existing remote communication technologies often fail to support the embodied presence and rituals of festive family gatherings. This paper presents Finding Christmas, a guided multimodal VR experience designed for older adults that situates remote social connection within a culturally familiar Christmas family setting. The experience integrates visual, auditory, haptic, and kinaesthetic modalities through four socially grounded activities: interaction with virtual family members, companionship through virtual pets, festive practices such as gift exchange and shared meals, and light, non-competitive play. Designed as an experience-first interaction scaffold grounded in prior social XR research and informal co-design with a single family, Finding Christmas prioritises familiarity, interpretability, and progressive engagement. A formative expert evaluation with 21 specialists in HCI, XR, haptics, and aged care informed iterative refinement of the experience. This work frames social connection as an experiential quality emerging through socially structured presence.