AI can generate ideas faster than any human, but recent studies have shown that outsourcing creative ideation is not without consequences. Cognition, work quality, individual value and ethics can be jeopardized when you substitute creative thinking with a ChatGPT prompt. This leads to questions about why creativity is important—perhaps more critically than ever—as AI rapidly expands. Let’s briefly look at the risks and review five techniques for keeping up with the times while maintaining creative edge.
AI’s fingerprints on our creativity
How does AI negatively affect creativity? We don’t entirely know, but initial research raises concerns.
The widely circulated 2025 study “Your Brain on ChatGPT” by researchers at MIT’s Media Lab raised concerns that writing with AI (versus writing alone or with search engines) results in lower brain activity. “Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels,” researchers shared.
Brain activity can be traced with an EEG, but creativity isn’t as measurable: It’s an internal process that fluctuates with self-belief. However, more tangible than creativity alone are the ideas we create—and the impact AI has on those ideas.
Why is creativity important when it comes to idea generation? As we’ll explore below, the impacts are multifaceted.
The AI idea gamble
“Reliance on ChatGPT for idea generation comes with a trade-off,” researchers from the University of Pennsylvania wrote in the paper “ChatGPT Decreases Idea Diversity in Brainstorming.” “While enhancing individual ideas’ creativity, it reduces the diversity of ideas.”
The question of ethics around AI-generated ideas also remains: Concerns about AI’s impact on work integrity, accuracy and originality loom large in creative industries. Professionals are navigating these worries while being directed by employers to master AI use in their daily tasks.
New studies, best practices and governance on AI use in creative work will continue to be released. As AI continues to expand, people are considering how AI impacts the way we process information. Some are contemplating questions like “Is ChatGPT bad for your brain?” The answer may have to do with balance. Perhaps the core to safeguarding creativity is remembering that it’s one of our most important muscles, and we need to use AI in a way that will strengthen, not weaken, it.
5 tips for using AI in creative work
Can AI replace human creativity? Current information suggests this is unlikely; rather, it’s important to use AI as a springboard to amplify it. Fortunately, we can all learn to use AI more strategically to enhance creativity. Having a toolkit of approaches could help you work smarter and keep your creativity going strong. Test these five techniques to find the balance between AI and analog work.
1. Train LLMs on your work
In his bestselling book The Accidental Creative, author Todd Henry said, “Cover bands don’t change the world.” Using AI out of the box without customization is just a rehash of what already exists online. You can personalize AI’s output greatly by providing rich context. Consider inputting details like:
- Work samples that train AI on your past projects, experience, etc.
- Documents that outline project outlines, brand standards, etc.
- Information about your role, company, etc.
This step lays an important foundation for the following techniques as you use AI to think with you about your work instead of solely mimicking the web content that trained its models.
2. Tap AI for supplementary roles
Instead of outsourcing your core skill, tap AI to act in a supplementary role to yours. This could look like:
- Marketers drafting an article themselves and prompting AI to provide feedback as an editor
- Speakers writing a speech themselves and having AI work as a speaking coach to help them improve their presentation skills
- Entrepreneurs generating a business plan themselves and asking AI to role-play as a potential customer
This supplementary approach uses AI to complement creative thinking instead of outsourcing it.
3. Ask LLMs for a creative nudge
When you’re stuck in a creative rut, task AI with helping you brainstorm a predefined part of a project. For example, if you’re struggling to come up with 20 project ideas, ask an LLM to generate the first 10 and then use those ideas to inspire you.
“You’re maybe not doing it totally analog… but you’re using that as a spark to your own imagination,” shares Bob Sager, author of More Freaking Brilliant Ideas: Helping You Thrive in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
When you’re stuck on a mental racetrack going in circles, AI can offer you an off-ramp. “I think that’s a good use of AI combined with your own intelligence,” Sager shared.
4. Engage in a flipped-interaction prompt
Turn the tables with an LLM and ask AI to prompt you (known as a flipped-interaction prompt). Provide four pieces of information for this type of prompt:
- Your role: Who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish
- AI’s role: A customer, your boss, a business adviser, etc.
- Desired outcome: Explain your vision
- Dictate the end format: A summary, action plan, etc.
For example, an entrepreneur exploring a business idea may instruct ChatGPT to act as a startup coach. The entrepreneur will generate their own responses to AI’s list of questions, and then ChatGPT will provide a summary with takeaways.
5. Leverage AI for quality control
Instead of using AI to make things, ask it to find things that improve work quality. Task AI with identifying oversights, inconsistencies or missed opportunities in your work. For example, a researcher may design a study themselves and use AI to search for holes, weak points, supplementary studies and missing information.
AI must complement human creativity, not replace it
Why is creativity important, and why is learning to navigate alongside AI so important? The diversity and impact of human creativity today is still crucial, but so is learning how to use AI to strengthen it.
Finding harmony between safeguarding your craft and keeping up with the times is a balancing act—an uncomfortable one for many.
But, “growth only happens through discomfort,” Sager encourages in his book. “AI will act as the force that prompts people to grow.” Growing with AI, in fact, gives many an edge when it comes to career advancement and more.
Finding AI’s rightful place in creative work will likely be a moving target, but it’s a worthy pursuit fighting to safeguard your own creative muscle. At a time when AI can mimic almost anything, we’ve never needed our own creativity more.
Photo by PeopleImages/Shutterstock
