Digital involution in AI-assisted academic writing: revisiting educational innovation through empty competition in a postgraduate course

This research note reconsiders the conceptualisation of innovation in the era of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Based on observations from an academic writing course, this research identifies a pattern of excessive textual production with limited intellectual gain. The note interprets this phenomenon as digital involution, in which generative AI lowers the cost of output yet intensifies empty competition among students. The underlying logic aligns with theories of symbolic capital, performativity and algorithmic scale, suggesting that the efficiency of generative AI may increase peer pressure toward quantifiable output at the expense of substantive learning. Rather than defining innovation through productivity and efficiency, this note argues that AI-assisted writing risks a degenerated form of competition through the accelerated production of inflated content and reduced cognitive engagement. The research calls for redesigned assessment and pedagogical practices grounded in the Literacy of Refusal. Future study should prioritise meaningful learning outcomes and the development of critical thinking over textual expansion in AI-assisted environments.