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AI And Machine Learning

How Generative AI Can

Augment Human Creativity
by Tojin T. Eapen, Daniel J. Finkenstadt, Josh Folk,
and Lokesh Venkataswamy

From the Magazine (July–August 2023)

All images in this article were created using generative AI. These images were
created using the prompts light bulb, flower, pastel, geometric shapes,
simplicity, clean lines, and minimal still life. Midjourney

Summary. There is tremendous apprehension about

the potential of generative AI—technologies that can
create new content such as text, images, and... more

There is tremendous
apprehension about the
potential of generative AI—
technologies that can create
new content such as audio, text, images,
and video—to replace people in many jobs.
But one of the biggest opportunities
generative AI offers to businesses and
governments is to augment human
creativity and overcome the challenges of
democratizing innovation.

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The term “democratizing innovation” was

coined by MIT’s Eric von Hippel, who, since
the mid-1970s, has been researching and
writing about the potential for users of
products and services to develop what they
need themselves rather than simply relying
on companies to do so. In the past two
decades or so, the notion of deeply
involving users in the innovation process
has taken off, and today companies use
crowdsourcing and innovation contests to
generate a multitude of new ideas.
However, many enterprises struggle to
capitalize on these contributions because of
four challenges.

First, efforts to democratize innovation

may result in evaluation overload.
Crowdsourcing, for instance, may produce
a flood of ideas, many of which end up
being dumped or disregarded because
companies have no efficient way to
evaluate them or merge incomplete or
minor ideas that could prove potent in
combination.

Second, companies may fall prey to the

curse of expertise. Domain experts who are
best at generating and identifying feasible
ideas often struggle with generating or even
accepting novel ideas.

Third, people who lack domain expertise

may identify novel ideas but may be unable
to provide the details that would make the
ideas feasible. They can’t translate messy
ideas into coherent designs.

And finally, companies have trouble seeing

the forest for the trees. Organizations focus
on synthesizing a host of customer
requirements but struggle to produce a
comprehensive solution that will appeal to
the community at large.

Generative AI tools can solve

an important challenge
faced in idea contests:
combining or merging a
large number of ideas to
produce much stronger
ones.

Our research and our experience working

with companies, academic institutions,
governments, and militaries on hundreds of
innovation efforts—some with and some
without the use of generative AI—have
demonstrated that this technology can help
organizations overcome these challenges. It
can augment the creativity of employees
and customers and help them generate and
identify novel ideas—and improve the
quality of raw ideas. We have observed the
following five ways.

1. Promote Divergent Thinking

Generative AI can support divergent

thinking by making associations among
remote concepts and producing ideas
drawn from them. Here’s an example of
how we used Midjourney, a text-to-image
algorithm that can detect analogical
resemblances between images, to generate
novel product designs based on textual
prompts from a human. (We utilized
Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Stable Diffusion
for the examples in this article, but they are
just a few of a host of generative AI tools
that are now available.) We asked
Midjourney to create an image that
combined an elephant and a butterfly, and
it produced the chimera we dubbed
“phantafly.”

We then used the detailed rendering from

Midjourney to inspire prompts in Stable
Diffusion, another popular text-to-image
model. Stable Diffusion generated a range
of ideas for different product categories,
including chairs and artisanal chocolate
candies (see images below).

The authors prompted Midjourney to produce an image combining an

elephant and a butterfly; they dubbed this creation “phantafly” (left). Then
the authors prompted Stable Diffusion to generate designs for chairs and for
artisanal chocolates inspired by “phantafly” (right). Midjourney; Stable
Diffusion

Rapidly and inexpensively producing a

plethora of designs in this way allows a
company to evaluate a wide range of
product concepts quickly. For example, a
clothing company that uses generative AI to
create new designs for T-shirts could stay
on top of trends and offer a constantly
changing selection of products to
customers.

Consider another example of how this

technology can connect ideas to create
concepts that an individual or a team might
never have come up with themselves. We
used ChatGPT, a type of generative AI
known as a large language model, to guide
the production of ideas. We asked it to
generate ideas through a process of
trisociation by connecting three distinct
entities (an extension of the bisociation
creativity technique). Our team gave
ChatGPT the following prompt: “You will
play the role of an ideator. You will
randomly generate 10 common nouns. You
will then randomly select any two of the 10
nouns. You will then ask me for a third
noun. You will generate a business idea by
combining or associating the two nouns
you identified and the noun I identified.”

ChatGPT generated the nouns “food” and

“technology.” When prompted, we
provided the additional noun “car.”
ChatGPT produced the following business
idea in short order: “A smart food-delivery
service that uses self-driving cars to
transport meals to customers. The
technology aspect could involve using AI to
optimize delivery routes, track food
temperature in real time, and provide
customers with real-time updates on the
status of their orders. The service could
target busy professionals and families who
want convenient and healthy meal options
without sacrificing taste and quality.”

In a separate round, ChatGPT produced the

nouns “airline” and “chair.” When
prompted, we provided “university,” and
ChatGPT came up with a business concept
that provides a convenient, cost-effective
way for students and academics to travel to
conferences and workshops around the
world along with access to a library of
educational books during the flight. It
proposed that the company be called Fly
and Study or Edu-Fly.

2. Challenge Expertise Bias

During the early stages of new-product

development, atypical designs created by
generative AI can inspire designers to think
beyond their preconceptions of what is
possible or desirable in a product in terms
of both form and function. This approach
can lead to solutions that humans might
never have imagined using a traditional
approach, where the functions are
determined first and the form is then
designed to accommodate them. These
inputs can help overcome biases such as
design fixation (an overreliance on
standard design forms), functional
fixedness (a lack of ability to imagine a use
beyond the traditional one), and the
Einstellung effect, where individuals’
previous experiences impede them from
considering new ways to solve problems.

Here’s an example of this process. We asked

Stable Diffusion to generate generic designs
of crab-inspired toys but provided it with
no functional specifications. Then we
imagined functional capabilities after
seeing the designs. For instance, in the
collection of crab-inspired toys shown
below, the image in the top left could be
developed into a wall-climbing toy; the
image next to it could be a toy that launches
a small ball across a room. The crab on a
plate near the center could become a slow-
feeder dish for pets.

The authors asked Stable Diffusion to come up with crab-inspired toy

concepts. Stable Diffusion

This is not a completely novel way to come

up with unusual products: Much of the
architecture and ride functionality in
theme parks such as Disney World has been
driven by a desire to re-create scenes and
characters from a story. But generative AI
tools can help jump-start a company’s
imaginative designs.

3. Assist in Idea Evaluation

Generative AI tools can assist in other

aspects of the front end of innovation,
including by increasing the specificity of
ideas and by evaluating ideas and
sometimes combining them. Consider an
innovation challenge where the goal is to
identify ways to minimize food waste.
ChatGPT assessed the pros and cons of
three raw ideas: (1) packaging with dynamic
expiration dates (labels that automatically
change either the dates or colors based on
the environmental conditions in the places
where they are stored); (2) an app to help
users donate food; and (3) a campaign to
educate people on types of expiration dates
and what they represent in terms of
freshness and fitness for use. ChatGPT
produced a balanced analysis of the pros
and cons that mirrored what we might
expect from an exchange between two
interested persons discussing the merits of
such ideas.

When ChatGPT evaluated the concept of

dynamic expiration-date packaging, for
instance, it determined that it would help
consumers better understand the shelf life
of products and encourage food
manufacturers to produce smaller batches
that would be replenished more frequently
on grocery shelves. In addition, ChatGPT
pointed out that dynamic expiration dates
may require significant changes to the
manufacturing and packaging process and
as a result, could increase the costs to both
manufacturers and consumers.

ChatGPT determined that the food-

donation app could encourage people to
use up their food before it goes bad and
reduce food waste by giving unopened,
edible food to those in need. It cautioned
that the app may require a large user base to
be effective and that the transportation and
distribution of food from a wide variety of
unregulated sources could pose safety
concerns.

Generative AI’s greatest

potential is not replacing
humans; it is to assist
humans in their efforts to
create hitherto
unimaginable solutions.

It stated that the pros of an education

program for consumers were increasing
consumer awareness of the meaning of
different expiration labels and helping
them make more-informed decisions about
food purchases and waste. But ChatGPT
warned that this education program could
be overly complex because expiration dates
are not standardized across all food
products. And it cautioned that educating
users on different types of expiration dates
can be costly if the program is broad in
scope, particularly if it involves widespread
campaigns or educational materials.

Generative AI can go beyond simple pros

and cons and help humans evaluate
dimensions of creativity such as novelty,
feasibility, specificity, impact, and
workability. We asked ChatGPT to assess
the same examples using these criteria.

Here is its assessment of the dynamic

expiration-date packaging concept:

Novelty: Somewhat novel. There have been

efforts to develop smart packaging that can
extend the shelf life of food products, but
the idea of dynamic expiration dates is an
emerging concept.

Feasibility: May be challenging to

implement as it requires the development
of new packaging materials and
technologies. It would also require
collaboration with food manufacturers,
regulators, and distributors.

Specificity: It’s specific in that it addresses

the problem of food waste by providing
consumers with more-accurate expiration
dates for their food.

Impact: Could have a significant impact on

reducing food waste and improving food
safety. When provided with more-accurate
expiration dates, consumers would be more
likely to use their food before it goes bad.

Workability: It would most likely require

significant resources and expertise to
develop and implement and may take
several years to fully realize its potential.

Here is ChatGPT’s assessment of the app

for donating food close to expiration:

Novelty: Not particularly novel. There are

already many programs and organizations
dedicated to reducing food waste and
donating surplus food to those in need.

Feasibility: Highly feasible. There are many

established models and an infrastructure in
place to support food donation efforts.

Specificity: Specific in its aim to reduce food

waste and address issues of food insecurity.

Impact: Has the potential to make a

significant impact as it addresses both food
waste and hunger. By redirecting surplus
food to those in need, it can help reduce
food waste while also improving food
security for vulnerable populations.

Workability: Highly workable in that it can

be implemented quickly and at a relatively
low cost. It would require partnerships with
food manufacturers, distributors, and food
banks, as well as volunteers to collect and
distribute the donated food.

Finally, here is how ChatGPT evaluated the

idea to educate users on different types of
expiration dates:

Novelty: Not particularly novel. There have

been efforts to educate consumers on the
meaning of expiration dates and how to
properly store food to extend its shelf life.

Feasibility: Highly feasible. It can be

implemented through various means, such
as public awareness campaigns,
educational materials, and media outreach.

Specificity: Specific in its aim to educate

consumers on the different expiration dates
and how to properly store food to reduce
food waste.

Impact: Potentially significant. Educating

consumers on the different expiration dates
and how to properly store food will make
them more mindful of food waste and take
steps to reduce it.

Workability: Highly workable and can be

implemented at a relatively low cost. It
would require collaboration with food
industry groups, government agencies, and
other organizations to develop and
distribute educational materials.

Using ChatGPT’s assessments, it would be

relatively easy to evaluate these three
concepts, or quickly score or organize them
based on the criteria that matter most.

4. Support Idea Refinement

Generative AI tools can solve an important

challenge faced in idea contests: combining
or merging a large number of ideas to
produce much stronger ones. For example,
an organization that is trying to win a
contract or a grant to develop a food-waste-
reduction program can use the tools to
combine the three concepts discussed
earlier. We did this in two steps. First, we
asked ChatGPT to flesh out each of the
concepts:

“Dynamic expiration dates are a solution

aimed at reducing food waste. This
involves incorporating technology into
packaging that can track and adjust the
shelf life of products in real time. By
using sensors, the expiration date can be
updated based on changes in
environmental factors, providing
consumers with a more accurate estimate
of when a product will go bad.”

“An app that enables consumers to

donate food close to its expiration date
aims to reduce food waste by giving
unopened, edible food to those in need.
The app connects individuals who have
surplus food to local organizations that
can use it. By using technology to
facilitate food donations, the app can
help reduce food waste and provide for
those in need.”

“Educating users on the different types of

expiration dates can help users make
informed decisions about purchasing and
consuming food, reducing waste, and
saving money. By clarifying the meaning
of ‘best before,’ ‘use by,’ and other
expiration labels, an education campaign
can help users better understand how to
determine if food is safe to eat and when
it is time to dispose of it.”

Next we asked ChatGPT to merge all three

ideas into one food-waste program. In short
order it produced the following description:
“The comprehensive food-waste-reduction
solution involves creating smart packaging
with dynamic expiration dates, establishing
a program for donating surplus food, and
educating the public on the importance of
understanding food expiration dates. The
smart packaging helps consumers make
informed decisions about food freshness,
the donation program ensures surplus food
is put to good use, and education raises
awareness about the impact of food waste.
This solution has the potential to
significantly reduce food waste and create a
more sustainable future by empowering
consumers, working with industry and
government, and making better use of
surplus food.”

5. Facilitate Collaboration with and

Among Users

When developing new product ideas or