Artificial intelligence can “professionalise” stories – at least in the case of less creative authors. This is one of the findings of a recent study conducted by two professors: Oliver Hauser from the University of Exeter Business School and Anil Doshi from UCL School of Management. In their study, they investigated the impact of generative AI on the creativity of its users. The title of their paper, published in ‘Science Advances’, summarises the key finding of this work: ‘Generative AI enhances individual creativity but reduces the collective diversity of novel content’.

The study tasked 293 people with writing an eight-sentence micro-story for a target group of young adults. One group was not permitted AI help, a second group could use ChatGPT to provide a starting idea, and writers in the third group selected inspiration from up to five AI-generated ideas. Next, 600 people were asked to assess the stories for novelty and variety, as well as “usefulness” and whether the ideas could be developed and potentially published, according to the study.

The researchers found that less creative writers saw a greater increase in creativity: access to five AI ideas improved novelty by 10.7 per cent and usefulness by 11.5 per cent compared with those who used no AI ideas. The “jury” rated their stories as up to 26.6 per cent better written, up to 22.6 per cent more entertaining and 15.2 per cent less boring. Conversely, AI was not found to improve the work of the more creative writers, says the study.

The researchers also calculated how similar the stories were to each other. Compared with the group that did not use AI, the similarity of the texts written by the writers whose stories contained a generative AI idea increased by 10.7 per cent. “In short,” Professor Hauser is quoted as saying in a statement about the study, “our results suggest that despite the enhancement effect that generative AI had on individual creativity, there may be a cautionary note if generative AI were adopted more widely for creative tasks.”

At the Open-i innovation conference in Zurich this November, the Innovation Lab will focus on creativity as a key element for companies. The format will be led by experts from the Biel-based innovation agency Creaholic. They will provide inspiration for promoting creativity as well as demonstrate diverse techniques.

Open-I describes itself as a Swiss innovation community and dialogue platform for the economy and the science sector. The conference will bring together academic and economic experts on 21 and 22 November at Zurich Kongresshaus to secure Switzerland's leading role as an innovative and successful market. Open-i is organised by NZZ Connect, a branch of the NZZ based in Bern. Tickets are available now. ce/mm