Study: AI Enhances Individual Creativity but Diminishes Collective Creativity

In an interview with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, he remarked about AI models: “These models and the way they process information are all based on past human creativity.” Thus, he does not believe AI can replace human creativity but rather assists it. While many share this viewpoint, there are those who believe that AI chatbots are either surpassing or are on the verge of surpassing humans, even in creative fields.

To explore whether these AI models (chatbots) aid human creativity, researchers Anil Doshi and Oliver Hauser from University College London and the University of Exeter, respectively, conducted an experimental study. Their research did not aim to compare AI’s creative abilities to humans, but rather to see if AI could enhance human creativity.

The researchers selected 300 writers who do not consider themselves professional writers. They conducted tests to measure their creative writing abilities, then divided them into three groups. All groups were asked to write short stories on specific topics, containing only eight sentences. The first group had to write their stories without AI assistance. The second group could use AI to generate one idea for their story, and the third group could use AI to generate five ideas. However, all participants wrote their stories themselves.