What 400,000 Essays Reveal About AI and Creativity

For generations, we've defined creativity by its products: the novel, the painting, the song, the breakthrough idea. We look at the work, and from the work we see the creator as “creative.” But AI is getting remarkably good at producing creative work. In some cases, experts now prefer AI-generated writing to work created by humans and can't reliably tell the difference between the two. In fact, a major literary prize even recently honored a work that was largely written by AI.

It all raises a deeper question than whether or not AI can write well. It forces us to reconsider what creativity actually is.

Today, neuroscientist Adam Green joins the show to discuss how AI is changing the way we write, think, and generate ideas. His research finds that while AI can make our language more polished and sophisticated, it may also make our thinking more uniform. The sentences get sharper. The ideas get more predictable. And If creativity is no longer something we can recognize from the final product alone, we may need a new, more human definition.

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Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Dr. Adam GreenProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices