From Diversity to Novelty: How Information Elaboration Unlocks the Creative Power of AI in Teams

The integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into team-based ideation processes offers unprecedented opportunities while posing unique challenges for fostering creativity within organizational contexts. Grounded in the perspective of team information processing, this study examines how generative AI impacts team creativity, with a particular focus on convergence-based collective creativity during the ideation phase of new product development (NPD). Leveraging the hybrid human-AI problem-solving framework and the dual-process model of creativity, we conducted five preregistered, randomized controlled field experiments, analyzing data from 528 individuals across 176 teams. Our study highlights the critical role of information elaboration as a moderated mediator: while generative AI significantly enhances idea diversity, diversity alone does not directly translate into novelty. Instead, the transformative impact of AI-driven diversity on idea novelty depends on the level of information elaboration within the team. Teams that engage in deeper analysis and integration of diverse perspectives are better able to leverage AI-enhanced diversity for creative outcomes. However, AI primarily improves the variety and depth of ideas, rather than their fluency or usefulness. By exploring AI’s influence on both divergent and convergent thinking, this research contributes to the human-AI collaboration literature, providing insights into how AI reshapes team creativity and offering practical guidance for integrating AI to optimize creative outcomes in NPD processes.