All posts tagged: creativity

Scientists tested the creativity of AI models, and the results were surprisingly homogeneous

Scientists tested the creativity of AI models, and the results were surprisingly homogeneous

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in PNAS Nexus suggests that while artificial intelligence chatbots can match or exceed human creativity on individual tasks, they produce highly similar responses when compared to one another. This provides evidence that widespread reliance on artificial intelligence for creative tasks could lead to a loss of unique ideas. Scientists Emily Wenger and Yoed N. Kenett designed this study to understand how large language models affect the diversity of human thought. Large language models are the technology behind popular AI chatbots that predict and generate text based on user prompts. Large language models are complex computer programs designed to process and produce human language. Developers build these systems by training them on billions of sentences from books, articles, and websites. By analyzing this vast amount of text, the models learn the mathematical patterns and relationships between words. When a user gives a chatbot a prompt, the model works by calculating the most probable next word in a sequence. It builds responses one word at a time based on the rules and associations …

AI Drafting My Stories? Over My Dead Body

AI Drafting My Stories? Over My Dead Body

Published by skeptic

Sportswriting legend Red Smith once said that writing a column is easy: “All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” In 2026, though, no blood is required. All you do is sit down at a laptop and have Claude or ChatGPT write the story for you. That seems to be the takeaway from a cluster of reports from the journalistic front of late. Last month, my colleague Maxwell Zeff wrote about writers who unapologetically generate at least some of their prose via unbylined AI collaborators. The star of his piece was Alex Heath, a tech reporter who said he routinely has AI write drafts based on his notes, interview transcripts, and emails. That same week, The Wall Street Journal profiled Fortune reporter Nick Lichtenberg, who explained to the paper that he leans heavily on AI to churn out his work. He has written 600 stories since July; on one day this past February, he had seven bylines. Ever since reading these reports—thankfully produced by the human hand—I have been having trouble sleeping. …

Online gaming might contribute to creativity, study finds

Online gaming might contribute to creativity, study finds

Published by José Betancourt

A study in Taiwan found that individuals who were more motivated to play online games tended to show higher post-game imagination. Imagination, in turn, was associated with greater creativity, indicating that gaming motivation might contribute to creativity. The paper was published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Researchers widely agree that internet technology, especially online gaming, has a strong impact on people’s lives. However, scientific studies primarily focus on these activities in the context of problems like addiction and reduced reading comprehension. Potential positive effects of gaming tend to be less discussed. Of the studies that have explored the potential positive impacts of gaming, most have focused on visual and problem-solving benefits, while paying less attention to how games may support imagination and creativity. However, some research shows that children who play video games more often can score higher on creativity tests, even when the games contain violent content. Other studies also suggest that online games can improve students’ creative thinking and attitudes. At the same time, researchers note that there is still a gap between …

‘R&B today is like Brazilian football – the creativity, the skill’: Odeal, the genre’s hottest UK star | R&B

‘R&B today is like Brazilian football – the creativity, the skill’: Odeal, the genre’s hottest UK star | R&B

Published by Sam Flores

“I’m not looking at a crowd tonight,” Odeal says hours before his first ever Brixton Academy performance in late March. “I’m looking at my people; aunties, uncles, friends, peers and supporters.” Dressed in loungewear and stretched across a leather sofa backstage at the south London venue, the British-Nigerian singer seems calm, as if he’s exactly where he expected to be. The 26-year-old has the type of fame particular to the British R&B scene: adoration and many millions of streams from the genre’s global fanbase, to the point where he’ll soon play arenas across the US in support of R&B megastar Summer Walker – though is yet to have much mainstream recognition beyond that. His music sits loosely within R&B, also drawing on Afrobeats, neo-soul and contemporary pop. Across his catalogue – culminating in his 2025 sister EPs The Summer That Saved Me and The Fall That Saved Us – love is rarely conclusive. Instead, songs live in emotional grey areas. But he encourages listeners to lean into their feelings, however conflicted they may be. “If …

AI struggles with true creativity compared to humans, study finds

AI struggles with true creativity compared to humans, study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

A page filled with abstract shapes can spark wildly different ideas depending on who is looking at it. For one person, a curve becomes a bird in flight. Another person sees it turn into something mechanical. For a generative AI system, that same shape may lead nowhere at all. That contrast sits at the center of a new study examining whether artificial intelligence can truly be creative, or whether it only appears that way. The research, led by scientists at the University of Barcelona and published in the journal Advanced Science, didn’t test whether AI could generate a convincing painting or mimic a famous style. It asked something harder: can AI produce genuinely original visual ideas on its own, without being told what to think? The short answer is no. Not yet. Not even close. From left to right, Silvia Rondini, Xim Cerdá-Company, Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells, Claudia Álvarez, Olivier Penacchio and Dan Dediu. (CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA What the Study Actually Tested The team used a standardized tool called the Test of Creative Imagery Abilities, which …

Lynda Barry on How the Smartphone Is Endangering Three Ingredients of Creativity: Loneliness, Uncertainty & Boredom

Lynda Barry on How the Smartphone Is Endangering Three Ingredients of Creativity: Loneliness, Uncertainty & Boredom

Published by José Betancourt

The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key ele­ments of dis­cov­ery: lone­li­ness, uncer­tain­ty and bore­dom. Those have always been where cre­ative ideas come from. — Lyn­da Bar­ry In the spring of 2016, the great car­toon­ist and edu­ca­tor, Lyn­da Bar­ry, did the unthink­able, pri­or to giv­ing a lec­ture and writ­ing class at NASA’s God­dard Space Flight Cen­ter. She demand­ed that all par­tic­i­pat­ing staff mem­bers sur­ren­der their phones and oth­er such per­son­al devices. Her vic­tims were as jan­gled by this prospect as your aver­age iPhone-addict­ed teen, but sur­ren­dered, agree­ing to write by hand, anoth­er anti­quat­ed notion Bar­ry sub­scribes to: The delete but­ton makes it so that any­thing you’re unsure of you can get rid of, so noth­ing new has a chance. Writ­ing by hand is a rev­e­la­tion for peo­ple. Maybe that’s why they asked me to NASA – I still know how to use my hands… there is a dif­fer­ent way of think­ing that goes along with them. Barry—who told the Onion’s AV Club that she craft­ed her book What It Is with an eye …

The Creativity of Science: How We Discover New Things

The Creativity of Science: How We Discover New Things

Published by Jenni Sidey

We know more about creativity today than at any other time in history. This is the golden age of creativity research. Creativity research helps us solve pressing social problems, be more innovative at work, and live more fulfilling lives. Psychologists make new discoveries about creativity every year. Scientists aren’t the only people who study the world, but we have a special way of doing it. Other people who look at the world closely and write about it include newspaper reporters, anyone with a diary, and novelists. What makes psychology different is that we use rigorous methodologies that prevent the research from being only subjective. If a psychologist does their job well, then any other psychologist would discover the same thing they did. Another distinctive feature of science, compared to reporting or novel writing, is that we focus on new information, on things that no one in the world knows. If we gather the same facts that another scientist has already written about, that’s not interesting. Science is about discovering new things. After we’ve discovered some …

War and creativity: Lebanese artists reflect on crisis – arts24

War and creativity: Lebanese artists reflect on crisis – arts24

Published by Sam Flores

As the conflict in the Middle East engulfs Lebanon, with air strikes and evacuation orders once again shaking the foundations of society, we hear from Wissam Charaf and Zeid Hamdan, two Lebanese artists grappling with this moment of crisis. Filmmaker Wissam Charaf joins us by video link from Beirut to reflect on the past seven years and how they have driven many artists to flee the country. The director of the 2022 film “Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous” also discusses the emotional and creative paralysis felt in a society where social, political and humanitarian crises have been a constant throughout much of adult life. Musician and producer Zeid Hamdan joins us in the studio, speaking about his sense of responsibility as a Lebanese artist in the diaspora and calling for a united front and greater solidarity across all communities in Lebanon. Source link

The Eyes Have It! – What and How We See Affects Our Creativity! – OpentheWord.org

The Eyes Have It! – What and How We See Affects Our Creativity! – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Credit: Lhccoutinho, Pixabay.com By Dr. Tamara Winslow Defying Babylon Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue was impossible to ignore. Massive, commanding the attention of all who saw it, its mere size alone struck a awesome chord in the onlookers. No one dared to disobey the king’s command concerning it. At a distance, three young Jewish princes stood, listening and waiting. The music would inevitably sound and then they would willfully violate the king’s decree. They knew the penalty that awaited them. No matter how awful the consequences they couldn’t bow to the image when the music sounded. Their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob forbade idolatrous worship. There was no exception to that law, even though it meant dying for their faith. Nearby several more Babylonian officials also watched. Whoever didn’t bow to the image when the music played would be burnt alive in a blazing furnace, punishment for disobeying the decree. Seconds later the swelling music of cornets, flutes, and harps along with various other instruments resounded throughout the area. Prostrating themselves in worship, at …

AI boosts worker creativity only if they use specific thinking strategies

AI boosts worker creativity only if they use specific thinking strategies

Published by José Betancourt

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology suggests that generative artificial intelligence can boost creativity among employees in professional settings. But the research indicates that these tools increase innovative output only when workers use specific mental strategies to manage their own thought processes. Generative artificial intelligence is a type of technology that can produce new content such as text, images, or computer code. Large language models like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini use massive datasets to predict and generate human-like responses to various prompts. Organizations often implement these tools with the expectation that they will help employees come up with novel and useful ideas. Many leaders believe that providing access to advanced technology will automatically lead to a more innovative workforce. However, recent surveys indicate that only a small portion of workers feel that these tools actually improve their creative work. The researchers conducted the new study to see if the technology truly helps and to identify which specific factors make it effective. They also wanted to see how these tools function in …