This statement was taken from a Facebook post I read recently. It got me seriously thinking. And inspired a response.

The idea that “creativity needs a soul,” suggesting AI can’t be truly creative because it lacks consciousness, comes from a traditional view of creativity. However, this view evolves if we consider how AI’s development affects creativity. Creativity isn’t just about human consciousness anymore; it can be enhanced by AI! (This isn’t a debate about the nature of consciousness itself.) 😂

AI doesn’t have emotions or consciousness, but it can create things that seem creative to humans. It does this by looking at tons of data and finding patterns. This helps humans become more creative, as AI can take over the boring (to some) parts, letting humans focus on the more emotional sides of creativity. It’s helped me immeasurably, in assisting with designing workshop activities and sense-making new futures concepts.

Also, if we only think of creativity as something humans can do, we’re missing out on a lot of new ideas. AI can come up with new and useful things, showing a new kind of creativity that comes from working together with humans. This doesn’t mean AI has a soul, but it does challenge the idea that you need one to be creative. The way AI and humans work together fuses a new form of creativity, mixing human feeling with machine efficiency.

Talking about AI and creativity also brings up big questions about what it means to be conscious, intelligent, and alive. These aren’t new questions, but they’re getting more attention as AI becomes a bigger part of creativity. They make us think again about what creativity is and how technology can help create new kinds of art and ideas.

In short, even though AI doesn’t have a soul in the way we usually think, it still plays a big part in creativity. It’s time to see creativity as something that grows from the partnership between humans and machines. This doesn’t lessen human creativity but shows how technology can be a powerful tool for coming up with new and exciting stuff!