<p>The rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has been received with both enthusiasm and consternation within the higher education community. However, there is growing concern about the threat that students’ improper use of AI technologies poses to their critical thinking skills. Despite the implications of this threat, most research and discussions on AI and learning have centred on academic integrity. Nonetheless, a growing body of research shows that students’ use of GenAI can enhance their critical thought by creating a ‘third space’ through cognitive processes such as extended cognition, managed cognitive offloading, and reduced extraneous cognitive load. Contrastingly, other research studies illustrate that students’ misuse of GenAI may stifle critical thought by increasing cognitive debt, reducing cognitive effort, promoting excessive cognitive offloading, and decreasing germane load. Thus, GenAI use can either serve as a barrier or enabler of critical thought. Yet, scholarly research and conceptual clarity on the intersection between students’ use of GenAI and critical thought in higher education remain underexplored. Using a narrative review approach and drawing on recent scholarly literature and related theory, this perspective paper contributes to the scholarly discourse by developing a conceptual model that explores the intersection between higher education students’ use of GenAI and their critical thought. The author contends that the threat to students’ critical thinking is not inherent in the AI technologies, but from how students use them. Recommendations for enhancing students’ critical thinking through GenAI use while mitigating the threats are advanced. Implications for future research are discussed.</p>