Synthesizing Minds and Machines : An Empirical Study of the Impact of Human-AI Co-Creation on Creativity and the Moderating Role of Competence

Abstract

This paper adds to the recent interest in the relationship between creativity and AI by studying if co-creating with AI positively affects creative outputs. Aiming to extend previous findings on human-AI co-creation as a creativity enhancer, and AI as a competence leveler, we conducted an experiment (n = 396) where students within knowledge fields generated business ideas, with or without ChatGPT-4. We find i) No difference in overall creativity between the groups co-creating with AI and non-AI users; however, optimal prompting produces significantly more novel ideas. ii) Competence does not moderate the relationship between AI and creativity when co-creating. iii) The non-AI group generated the two most creative ideas, while most of the top ten ideas were generated by prompted participants who co-create with AI. We conclude that AI can be a powerful creative tool, resulting in a potential interplay where AI is not a substitute for humans but a collaborator, amplifying human creativity and ingenuity.