AI’s Creative Promise: For Better or For Worse?

The advent of large language models like GPT signifies a transformative breakthrough in AI capabilities. The emergence of human-AI collaboration prompts a crucial question: does such collaboration result in improvements in joint creativity over time? In two studies, we explore how joint creativity of human-AI collaboration changed over multiple rounds of creativity tasks. Study 1 involved two rounds of image generation tasks with Midjourney, and Study 2 encompassed three rounds of problem-solving tasks with ChatGPT. Study 1 revealed no significant change in joint creativity, whereas Study 2 demonstrated declining joint creativity over the rounds. Both studies unveiled an intriguing pattern: less creative individuals experienced declining joint creativity when collaborating with AI, while creative individuals maintained their joint creativity. To understand the underlying mechanisms, we conducted qualitative analyses of participants’ interactions with ChatGPT, followed by quantitative testing. Results indicate that less creative individuals primarily acted as idea generators instead of transitioning into supervisory roles, explaining the decline in their joint creativity.