Let’s talk about creativity!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzzword that is challenging the exclusivity of human creativity. Many fear that machines will take away even our creative jobs, apart from the unskilled jobs and those requiring repetitive tasks. Are machines taking over the world?

In some ways, yes. Machines have been doing that for centuries, even millennia. When wheels were invented, they took away the ‘jobs’ of many who would carry heavy objects. They also made easy the work of individuals who were doing it for themselves, freeing up more time for them to do other work. This time saved gave humans time to do other work, but, more importantly, think and reflect. Invention of the wheel was creative but thinking and reflection made humans more creative. One invention led to another and led to where we are today. It wasn’t the wheel that made us what we are, it was the creativity.

What is creativity?

Creating something new is creation, and when the creation come from new ideas then such ideas are creativity. A product made in a factory is a creation. A thought behind a product made for the first time is creativity. Machines can make products, but can machines make an object for the first time?

Yes, and no. That difference is what this post is about. The ‘yes’ is for machine creativity, and the ‘no’ is for human creativity.

Human vs. Machine/Mechanical Creativity

Have a look at the infographic on the left. It explains our theory that machines can be creative up to a limit. That limit is machine creativity. Such creativity is a production of something new but with reproduced ideas.

All such machine creativity is learnable, and so the machines can learn them. The creativity that can be taught is machine creativity. ChatGPT, Midjourney, Dall-e, Github Copilot, Bard are all based on training, or machine learning.

Human creativity cannot be taught. It is developed. Machine creativity may help in developing human creativity, but that doesn’t happen automatically. Many other factors are needed for this transformation.

The outcome of human creativity is a combination of data, logic, and the practice of thinking in ways that is different from known ways. It is ‘practice’ because it doesn’t happen instantly. It needs to become a habit to think that way before something useful comes out of it. This practice of thinking is what machines may never become capable of doing.

Explain with examples.

Sure. Let’s consider fine art with commercial art. The basics of fine art can be learnt, but it is then developed through human creativity. Commercial art, such as graphic design, commercial film production, packaging design, jewelry design, etc. can be learnt by almost anyone. However, only some will develop their own style and creative identity in their art.

It is easy to learn rhyming for poetry. We can write basic poetry by having a list if rhyming words and learning the common format in which poetry is written. The length of sentences. Where the rhyming words occur and to put this structure under a particular theme. That is mechanical poetry. Poetry becomes deep when much more than this is added by human creativity. The unusual play with words, the unexpected logic, the breakout from the usual structure. Only some of this is learnable.

In science, many radical ideas have been proposed just by human creativity and later confirmed experimentally. It took decades for many of Einstein’s theories to be experimentally confirmed.

Many wars have been won but employing unusual strategies that the opponents never thought of.

How do we use this understanding of difference?

Human creativity is rare. A country can develop faster when it has more creativity, but even more so when it has more human creativity. The same goes for an organization. Any group that wants to maximize its potential should try and attract more of human creativity.

Big results will take time, but just the practice of human creativity will give continuous results in small ways, like what we get from presence of mind. Presence of mind is partly human creativity and partly attitude.

What are the challenges for human creativity?

Human creativity is limited by itself! Let me explain.

• Since it isn’t very common, identifying a source is not easy.
• Using such creativity is not easy, as the generated ideas from human creativity may not have obvious uses. Such ideas are more easily accepted in art and literature than in science and business.
• Most groups (organizations) need ideas that can be instantly monetized or at least put to some use. Human creativity may or may not fix in such expectations. In the form of ingenuity, it may solve some immediate problems or give instant solutions, but radical ideas need nurturing over a longer period. That impatience often kills human creativity and forces it to become mechanical.

How can we, then, utilize human creativity or nurture it?

It will take unique leadership for small organizations to actively seek people with human creativity. Larger organizations can certainly allocate space and resources to develop human creativity and keep the patience. Human creativity takes time to develop, as we have mentioned above. It can develop by practicing. The presence of people with human creativity around, listening to their thoughts, exchanging views or even debating with them will help develop this among others.

Having smart people around will give benefits in the long run, maybe not immediately. For instant creativity, mechanical creativity is always an option. A mix of both would be ideal, as long as the expectations from each is different.

Contact us if you have any questions or would like to just exchange ideas.