#ai-and-creativity

#ai-and-creativity

From Jeff Bezos commandeering Venice for his lavish wedding at a time of a growing backlash over inequality, to the spectacle of Donald Trump returning to office for a second term, the material was endless for cartoonists, though often difficult to navigate. The less surreal included violence against Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, the entrenchment of the Russia-Ukraine war, the threat AI posed to human creativity and the return of the far right across Europe and the US.

And I know I'm not alone. Collaboration overload has crept into creative teams everywhere-shaped by hybrid schedules, the pressure to stay visible when we're apart, and a steady flow of digital tools like Slack and Teams that keep us connected but can slowly chip away at focus. Creative teams have reached a point where we are spending so much time meeting, messaging, and circling each other's work that nobody has the space or clarity to actually create.

When Polish endoscopists began using AI to detect cancer, their accuracy improved. But their performance on non-AI procedures got worse. When students used AI to draft SAT-style essays, their creativity initially spiked. Yet those who started with AI-generated ideas showed reduced alpha-wave activity (a marker of creative flow), " tended to converge on common words and ideas," and their "output was very, very similar" to one another's.

In eLearning's embrace of AI, like with our very own learners, there is the understanding that the human comes first. In Machine Learning, this is the human-in-the-loop (HITL), where humans help the machine make the correct decisions. In Instructional Design, this is the understanding that the designer imbues their humanity into their coursework to ensure a relatable, accurate, engaging learning experience, and not merely an efficient production.

The conversation about AI and creativity isn't going anywhere, and it was front and centre at Frontify's recent Paradigms conference in Morocco. Jonas Hegi, co-founder and executive creative director of Builders Club, leads one of the most forward-thinking creative studios operating today, blending film, design, and emerging technology for clients like Apple, Nike, OpenAI, and Beats. At Paradigms, Jonas' talk explored what it means to stay experimental, human and craft-driven in a future increasingly shaped by machines.

Disruption seems to be the norm for design, especially when it comes to the techniques and tools we employ in our craft. In 2025, the field faces yet another shift. Technical optimism seems to have lost unanimity, and creative professionals are trying to understand their place in a future of economic uncertainty, in which AI seems capable of delivering aesthetic quality with unmatched speed.