The Cyborg and the Scribe: Navigating the Jagged Frontier of Co-Intelligence and Cultural Resistance in Malaysian Creative Writing Education
Abstract
As Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) matures from a disruptive novelty to a ubiquitous utility, the pedagogical landscape of creative writing has shifted from resistance to complex integration. This study investigates the perceptions and writing practices of Malaysian English Literature undergraduates at a private university in Malaysia, utilising the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Mollick’s Co-Intelligence Framework. Through qualitative analysis of four distinct student archetypes; Glitch Poetics Hacker, Analogue Radical, Narrative Architect, and Cultural Synthesiser, this study reveals a divergence in adoption strategies. Findings indicate that while high Performance Expectancy (PE) drives the use of AI for structural architecting, significant resistance arises from concerns over Nusantara Erasure and Algorithm Homogeneity. Rather than seamlessly integrating AI, Malaysian English majors wrestle with it. The study proposes a new pedagogical model, Adversarial Co-Creativity, which positions the student not as a passive user but as a Cyborg Director capable of navigating the jagged frontier between human affect and machine scale.
Keywords: Co-intelligence; creative writing pedagogy; generative artificial intelligence (GenAI); Malaysian Literature in English; UTAUT
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