AIGC has accelerated the transformation of research paradigms, prompting researchers to integrate AIGC into their research practices. Using work engagement as an entry point to explain AIGC acceptance, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model can be applied by viewing work engagement as a job demand and AIGC acceptance as a job crafting behavior that increases resources to meet such demands. This process is jointly driven by proactive motivation—emphasizing the pursuit of career achievement—and reactive motivation—focusing on coping with work-related difficulties. Based on a large-scale survey on Chinese scientists, the study reveals that: (1) Along the proactive motivation path, individuals with high vigor and high dedication actively expand their social work resources, resulting in greater diversity in their discussion networks, which facilitates AIGC acceptance; (2) Along the reactive motivation path, Chinese researchers are prone to a “person-job misfit” dilemma in terms of work engagement. Those with low absorption demonstrate higher performance expectations of AIGC and are thus more inclined to acceptance it. Individuals with low dedication and low absorption perceive a stronger risk of being replaced by AIGC, strengthening their reactive motivation and promoting AIGC acceptance. Overall, reactive motivation dominates AIGC acceptance among Chinese researchers, indicating that AIGC is currently used more as a tool to cope with work engagement challenges. To fully unlock the transformative scientific potential of AIGC, more supportive organizational and institutional environments must be established.