Beyond the Boundary: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Generative AI and Emerging Competencies in Applied Arts Education in Italy

This study investigates the relationship between artificial intelligence, artistic education, and the production chains of Made in Italy, with particular reference to the AFAM system (Higher Education in Art, Music, and Dance). Adopting a mixed-methods design, the research integrates three phases: a systematic review of the literature, a questionnaire administered to students and teachers within AFAM institutions, and a Delphi inquiry involving experts from artistic education, creative professions, cultural industries, and digital technologies. The findings show that AI is perceived both as a driver of innovation and as a source of significant tension. On the one hand, it expands creative possibilities, supports experimentation, and encourages the emergence of hybrid professional profiles combining creative, technological, and critical competences. On the other hand, it raises concerns related to standardization, the weakening of experiential learning, the redefinition of authorship, and the possible loss of cultural specificity in the Made in Italy production chains. The results also highlight a gap between the growing relevance attributed to AI-related competences and the limited availability of structured educational pathways and institutional policies for their integration. Overall, the study suggests that the impact of AI on artistic education and creative industries cannot be understood in deterministic terms, but must be interpreted as part of an open and multilayered process shaped by pedagogical, institutional, and cultural choices. In this perspective, the AFAM system emerges as a strategic space for mediating between technological innovation, educational quality, and the preservation of the cultural and design values that characterize Made in Italy.