[Purpose/significance] The information cocoon is a stubborn ailment that must be cracked in the digital era. Information acquisition through generative artificial intelligence can significantly enhance users' information-collection efficiency and help expand information; yet it also harbors the risk of information narrowing, which may lead to cognitive closure. Its latent double-edged-sword effect urgently demands systematic exploration. [Method/process] From an individual perspective, based on cognitive-offloading theory and integrating the elaboration likelihood model with dual-process theory, this study proposes the positive and negative effect paths of "breaking the cocoon" and "spinning the cocoon", constructs a model according to theoretical hypotheses, and conducts empirical testing using PLS-SEM. [Result / conclusion] Generative artificial intelligence information acquisition presents a double-edged-sword effect on information cocoons; the cognitive offloading triggered by generative artificial intelligence information acquisition can, by stimulating users' self-initiated behavior, broaden information boundaries and break cocoons, yet it can also, by fostering behavioral inertia, exacerbate information narrowing and create cocoons; critical thinking, as a key moderating variable, can weaken the negative effect and curb cocoon formation.