This paper examines the emerging digital literacies and immersive technology and their influence on real-world making in university studios. We modeled our hypothesis and tested it on cross-sectional data (n = 476 students in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan) where AI-art literacy predicts performance in experimental imaging, with visual-language proficiency mediating and VR presence moderating the relationship. We resorted to various measures: self-reported, validated and short knowledge tests (including Mini-VLAT-like items), and we scored performance using a rubric complemented with system log information. Analyses in SmartPLS 4 (5000 bootstraps) confirmed strong reliability/validity and supported the structural model: AI-art literacy positively predicted experimental imaging performance (β = 0.14, p = .002) and visual-language proficiency (β = 0.62, p