How reliance on GenAI might limit human creativity and critical thinking in Requirements Engineering

Paper in proceeding, 2025

Generative AI (GenAI) can greatly benefit Requirements Engineering activities by collaborating with humans and enhancing their creativity. On the other hand, GenAI tools are considered general-purpose AI models with systemic risk, partly because they can have a negative impact on human creativity and critical thinking. This paper presents the results of a literature survey to gather reported GenAI’s potential negative impacts on creativity and critical thinking, which are then classified into risk categories. Said categories are then connected to specific articles and recitals in the Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council, also known as the Artificial Intelligence Act, which proposes high-level requirements and strategies to prevent or mitigate them. The results highlight gaps in existing regulations and guidelines, either because specific use cases are not considered, vaguely formulated, because of exceptions, or because some articles have not yet entered into force.