Artificial Intelligence Outperforms Humans in Tests of Creative Potential

Artificial intelligence (AI) can create artworks, write songs for special occasions, provide voices for podcasts, and perform an unimaginably wide array of tasks. However, it's hard to believe that AI could surpass human creative thinking. Or could it?

A new study suggests that this might indeed be the case, particularly when it comes to divergent thinking: the type of thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring multiple possible solutions.

This was announced by the University of Arkansas in a press release.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, conducted three different tests to measure divergent thinking in both humans and the artificial intelligence GPT-4. The tests, taken by 151 participants before being administered to GPT-4, involved.

The setup of the test:

1. Coming up with creative uses for various everyday objects, such as a fork or a rope.

2. Imagining possible outcomes that could arise from hypothetical situations included in the tests.

3. Coming up with 10 nouns that are as semantically distant from each other as possible, meaning they have widely different meanings.

Upon comparing the results, the researchers found that the participants struggled to match GPT-4's performance.

"Overall, GPT-4 was more original and detailed than humans in each of the divergent thinking tasks, even when controlling for expressiveness (a pattern in expressions that is smooth and rhythmic without pauses or disturbances)," according to the researchers at the University of Arkansas.

However, there are several caveats to consider before we humans count ourselves out of the creativity competition.

The researchers emphasize that "it is important to note that the measures used in the study are all measures of creative potential. Engagement in creative activities or achievements is a different aspect of measuring a person's creativity."

They point out that artificial intelligence lacks independent agency, meaning that it can only function when directed by humans (for now).