Part 7 of Shaping Outcomes in an AI-Driven World
This 9-part series helps us explore where AI genuinely enhances performance and where humans must remain firmly in the lead for some of the most essential workplace skills. We look through the lens of partnership, not replacement, to understand the balance between AI and human abilities in generating the most successful outcomes. The series focuses on the discipline of project management, but the core concepts and recommendations can apply to a broad range of circumstances in any industry or any workplace.
“To make or bring into existence something new.”
This is Merriam-Webster’s definition of create. By literal definition, both AI and humans can create. However, AI’s impact on creativity is currently a polarizing topic particularly in the area of art and the debate around whether AI will destroy original human art. We’d like to acknowledge that AI’s impact on creativity in art is an important conversation to have, but we will not deeply explore this debate in this article. Instead, we’ll remain focused on the spirit of this series and explore how AI can supplement human creativity specifically in a business environment which carries with it, its own considerations.
A History of Creativity in the Workplace
Creativity in business revolves around generating ideas or designs that result in unique solutions which are used to differentiate a brand or create market success among other things. It has greatly evolved over the last 100 years. In the era of the assembly line (1920’s), creativity was top down and focused on the ideal way to do things.
Creativity became more isolated from the corporate structure and protected from performance metrics during the 1950s. Creative power was reserved for an elite class of subject matter experts who relied on intuition and personal taste. But this is also the time where we start to see the rise in popularity of brainstorming.
Global competition in the 1970s and 1980s necessitated the need for frameworks to create a faster pace of innovation. Creativity became more collaborative and no longer reserved for the elite few. Sticky notes were the novel invention and soon graced creative conversations with their presence.
The 1990s began a considerable shift from innovation within, to a bigger focus on the customer primarily driven by the digital revolution. This is where creativity steered by the user experience gains its edge. In the period just before mainstream AI (2010s through 2022) creativity became completely decentralized, and all team members were expected to have some creative problem-solving ability. Fully supported by a digital landscape, creativity became faster and highly iterative.
The Creativity Landscape in the Workplace Today
Through time, the ability to imagine something that did not yet exist seemed fundamentally human. Machines could perform calculations or automate repetitive tasks, but creativity belonged to people. The advent of generative AI changed this narrative. Now, technology can create and it does this more efficiently than humans. Brainstorming that once took hours or days can now be accomplished in seconds using AI as a thought partner. It’s in this efficiency where AI has its advantages. The pace of industry continues to increase and that continues to require faster cycles of innovation. Utilizing AI as a partner can assist us in achieving that faster pace.
We routinely see AI used in two ways that demonstrate its value through efficiency. First is idea expansion. AI can be used to take a concept and create numerous variations. It can be used to generate use cases for a new application and outline new features for multiple industries. It can also be used as a creativity catalyst presenting different angles to a problem statement that are used for creative inspiration.
Potential Pitfalls
AI’s downside in the creative space is primarily the propensity for similarities in its output. Using it as a sole source creator puts organizations at risk for lack of differentiation. We’ve explored in this series how AI creates advantages in information accessibility by distilling and summarizing high volumes of data as well as translating complex ideas into lay terms. But when new content is created, similar inputs and algorithms are being utilized essentially homogenizing outputs.
Hallucinations (the generation of false or misleading information) can also create a tangible risk. Take the instance where AI is used without oversight or with total lack of subject matter expertise. When an organization stands upon that false information and consumers become aware, it risks significant damage to reputation and consumer trust.
Broad use of AI without suitable controls also puts organizations at risk. Inadvertently disclosing proprietary information or trade secrets through inputs and prompting can erode competitive advantages.
Avoiding the Hazards
Just like anything else that has advantages and disadvantages, creativity in the workplace today is about balance. Rather than fully replacing human intuition, AI can enhance outputs by taking a supportive role in the creative process. Use AI to:
- Generate ideas to combat a creativity slump
- Present ways that different industries might look at a new product
- Strengthen brainstorming by creating a broader starting pool of ideas
- Quickly test multiple versions of an idea before investing in one approach
- Challenge assumptions by exploring counterarguments that might not emerge from your initial thinking
Humans must remain in the lead when it comes to the idea, judgment, and meaning. We see beyond data patterns to create truly unique solutions. Humans are better at:
- Recognizing when established assumptions, processes, or solutions need to be questioned or overturned challenging the status quo
- Bringing personal experiences, emotions, observations, and memories into the creative process in ways that make ideas distinctive
- Staying productive in the face of ambiguity when there isn’t a clear answer or obvious solution
- Connecting seemingly unrelated ideas to create novel combinations
- Creating ideas that resonate emotionally with other people by infusing empathy
- Connecting ideas to a larger intention to create purpose
- Taking risks by pursuing unconventional ideas despite uncertainty or the possibility of failure
AI can accelerate ideation and experimentation, but creativity still depends on human curiosity, judgment, and the ability to make meaningful connections.