Artificial intelligence can generate ideas almost instantly.
Ask for twenty business concepts.
Twenty appear.
Ask for alternative endings to a story.
Done.
Ask for ten ways to solve a problem.
Seconds later, there they are.
It seems obvious that AI should make us more creative.
Psychology is discovering that reality is more interesting.
Research appearing in the August 2026 issue of Acta Psychologica describes generative AI as something of a double-edged sword for employee creative thinking. The researchers examined pathways involving creative self-efficacy alongside problematic AI dependence.
ScienceDirect
Another August study in New Ideas in Psychology experimentally examined AI-assisted creativity among university students and compared simple single-round AI interaction with deeper multi-round engagement.
ScienceDirect
A June study in Frontiers in Psychology also investigated whether generative AI stimulates or constrains divergent thinking in product design.
Frontiers
The emerging question isn’t simply:
Does AI increase creativity?
It is:
What happens to human creativity depending on how AI is used?
The Blank-Page Problem Is Disappearing
For centuries, creators faced the same enemy.
Nothing.
The blank canvas.
The empty document.
The unanswered question.
Generative AI changes this dramatically.
You no longer need to begin with nothing.
AI can provide an initial structure.
But removing the blank page creates another psychological challenge.
The first idea you see can influence everything that follows.
AI Anchoring
Imagine asking an AI:
“Give me five business ideas for teachers.”
It produces five.
You may unconsciously begin thinking within the boundaries established by those suggestions.
Instead, try thinking independently first.
Write down your own ideas.
Then, ask AI for alternatives.
Now compare them.
The AI expands your thinking rather than defining its starting point.
Use AI for Divergence
One of the most powerful creative applications of AI may be generating perspectives rather than finished answers.
Ask:
“What assumptions am I making?”
“What would someone from another profession notice?”
“What happens if the opposite is true?”
“Give me three interpretations that contradict mine.”
“What question haven’t I asked?”
This encourages divergent thinking.
AI becomes a cognitive provocateur.
Then Bring the Human Back
After divergence comes selection.
Which idea matters?
Which is ethical?
Which fits the audience?
Which deserves investment?
Which reflects your values?
Which is simply nonsense dressed in impressive language?
That requires judgement.
judgement remains central to creativity.
Creative Self-Efficacy Matters
The Acta Psychologica research is particularly interesting because it considers creative self-efficacy—roughly, people’s belief in their own creative capability—as part of the picture.
ScienceDirect
That suggests a useful psychological principle.
AI should leave you thinking:
“I can explore more.”
Not:
“I can’t create without this machine.”
There is a substantial difference between augmentation and dependency.
A Better Human-AI Creative Loop
Instead of:
Prompt → AI answer → publish
consider:
Human idea → AI challenges → human reflection → AI exploration → human judgement → creation.
The human remains cognitively active throughout the process.
AI expands the possibility space.
The person chooses the destination.
The Creativity Advantage of the Future
AI may eventually make competent creative output almost universal.
If that happens, competence itself becomes less distinctive.
Curiosity becomes valuable.
Taste becomes valuable.
Unexpected connections become valuable.
The ability to recognise a remarkable idea among fifty plausible ones becomes extremely valuable.
The future creative advantage, therefore, may not belong to the person who can generate the most.
It may belong to the person who knows what deserves to exist.

Research: New Ideas in Psychology — AI Assistance and Creativity⁠