Can AI Replace Human Creativity?

How AI can amplify our creative abilities and why organizations should consider investing in fostering creativity in the workplace.

In today’s fast-paced world: AI is gaining ground. AI may not have taken your job (yet?), but you may have noticed different apps integrating AI into their software.

Many people parade our human creativity around like an everlasting Olympic torch. Well, in a recent study published in Nature, AI actually did pretty good in a divergent thinking task.

AI vs. Humans: Creativity & Divergent Thinking (A Summary of the Study)

---

Imagine  279 native English speakers from the UK, USA, Canada, and Ireland, armed with their creativity and a bunch of everyday objects like ropes, boxes, pencils, and candles are tasked with a mission.

The mission is to imagine original, unique and uncommon uses for the objects.

AI chatbots were in on the action too, armed with specific instructions and ready to compete.

The challenge wasn’t about quantity; it was all about quality. The AI chatbots had to match the number of ideas generated by humans, using only 1-3 words per response.

The victor? It’s complicated.

In this study, the AI chatbots outperformed human participants on average with more creative responses.

However, while AI beat out the average human, it could not compete with the humans with the most creative answer

---

We can improve our creative thinking skills with training and practice. Combining our skills with AI can help us get past our biases to find new ideas, we are an unstoppable creative team.

I wanted to shed some light on how AI can amplify our creative abilities and why organizations should invest in fostering creativity in the workplace. Well, if they want innovation, I guess 🤷‍♀️

5 AI Tools I Use to Boost My Creativity

Here are 5 ways I’ve used AI to enhance (not replace) my own work.

1. ChatGPT

The most ubiquitous in the conversation on AI, I’ve found ChatGPT helpful for creating outlines and first drafts, so I’m not starting with a blank page.

As someone with ADHD, organizing my thoughts can be tough. I can start in the middle of a point, and what makes sense to me doesn’t make sense to others.

• I will feed ChatGPT a topic and add details in my prompts about what I want to write about, and ask for an outline, which I use in broad strokes to structure my thoughts.
• Sometimes I use it as a much more patient muse than my teenagers – where I ask it fun questions then usually have to tell it to make it funnier.
• On a recent Instagram post, someone was looking for a word to describe when you feel like a snack, and nothing sounds good. Chat GPT came up with a few great ones, like Gastronomisery and Nibblesorrow.

Check out a video I did about how I use ChatGPT for my newsletters here!

2. Supernormal – I’ve just started trying this one out so the verdict it out. It’s SUPPOSED to listen to your Zoom calls and create a transcript and task list. I haven’t gotten it to work so far, so it’s probably me…

3. Rytr – I used this in the past like ChatGPT for ideas for articles and structures.

4. Canva AI Image Generator – I’ve used Canva’s AI art tool to create simple royalty-free images for presentation slides

5. SciSummary: To summarize scientific articles, to find out if I actually want to read the whole thing. I also used it to help me summarize the article about AI we just chatted about!

Creativity: The Superpower Humans Should Focus On

Although AI excelled at creating alternate uses for common items, it does not have the human capacity to think in analogies.

If my friend tells me a story about dropping her files in front of her boss, why does it make me think of that time I threw up on my teacher? Humans make emotional connections and analogies every second of every day. While AI is capable of comparison, it lacks the emotional tie to complex events.

One way to leverage AI for your own creativity is to automate mundane tasks to free up time for more complex and imaginative tasks. The challenge is not to fill this gap with more busy work, instead to engage in creativity building habits like daydreaming and curiosity.

Another way to use AI that has helped me is your patient and stoic muse.

Ask ChatGPT a new word to describe the feeling of procrastination mixed with panic and it will come up some ideas.

Not good enough? Ask it to make them funnier, mix in some food references, a dash of French, and see what happens.

Chances are, the AI generated idea will squeeze your own creative juices and give you new and exciting ideas of your own. Without the eye rolls like your partner or teen.

Don’t feel threatened by AI, use them to amplify your ability to think outside the box and come up with novel ideas (the AI bots do need a prompt… after all!)

Creative Thinking is the “Edge” Your Organization is Looking For …

73.2% of companies surveyed for the The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs identified creative thinking as increasing in importance (even slightly above analytical thinking!)

Here is the fact from the study that leapt out and grabbed me by the nose:

Companies are not investing in creativity training.

That’s right, they are not investing in the development of a self-proclaimed top need!

As the lifecycle of skills rapidly decreases as technology races to optimize our lives, businesses also recognize the importance of traits such as curiosity, lifelong learning, resilience, and flexibility.

Did you know? Practicing creativity can help you develop all of those attitudes!

Wait. Can you train creativity?!?! Yes, you can!

Even a 1.5h session to teach creative problem solving principles improved improved creative thinking skills in undergraduate students. (Ritter, 2016).
In another study, people with divergent thinking training not only had more creative ideas, but areas of the brain associated with creative thinking were more active in the trained group vs. the untrained control group (Sun, 2016)

By providing employees with the training, skills and tools to explore their creative potential, companies can ignite a culture of innovation and fresh thinking.

You might think it’s easier to just hire “creative” employees, but this is flawed. Everyone is creative, and by building your organizational creative culture, you can see innovation from every single team member!

So, let’s link the dots:

• Creative skills can be trained.
• Everyone has the capacity to improve their creative thinking skills.
• But most organizations are not investing in this area.
• Aren’t you glad you read this article?

There are many ways to engage creative training in your organization, whether you hire a consultant to build a comprehensive program, a facilitator to train creative problem-solving principles, asynchronous courses, books and online courses abound.

Additionally, studies show that creatively engaged employees are more motivated, productive, and satisfied in their roles. They also make more money, but as a leader, you’ll reap that higher salary in financial return through engagement, retention and innovation many times over.

Let’s not fear AI, but harness its potential to amplify our creative endeavours. By investing in creativity training, building a creative culture, and fearlessly sharing ideas without judgement, leaders can unlock a wave of innovation.

Remember: creativity is our superpower, and it’s time to unleash it for the betterment of our lives, workplaces, and the world at large.

IN OTHER NEWS …