Even when our teachers ask us to create something authentic, our fingers still linger above the keyboard, tempted to ask AI for help. For a shortcut. For something easier. What began as a tool for inspiration has suddenly become a crutch, one that risks hollowing out the very thing that enlightens our lives. 

Often we may find ourselves wanting to express ourselves through art, but imagine if Beethoven had sat in front of his piano and instead he decided that the hard work was not worth it and instead gave the work to an AI music generator. Would we consider the Fifth Symphony a masterpiece even centuries later? Art is a form of expression surpassing the simplicity of individualism, forming a connection for thousands of years. 

Even as a creative writer myself, I often ask ChatGPT for advice on my writing. To point out errors, and give suggestions; even this article was created with the help of AI, to some extent. But some part of me feels hollow when I take its suggestions. Merely three to four years earlier, I had been writing entire essays without AI, but something changed, making even my passions require the help of AI. 

In this AI-driven world, will we lose our own creativity? How can we express ourselves despite that itching desire for AI to do it for us? 

AI’s Impact on Creativity

According to the Science Direct, the creative process combines divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is generating multiple ideas and convergent thinking is choosing the best idea. AI is oftentimes best at convergent thinking, as it is built on making predictions, recognizing patterns and so on. Humans can do both, and their divergent thinking is often much better. 

The alternative use task (AUT) test is used to measure divergent thinking. The AUT test is an excellent way to measure students’ creativity by analysing their brainstorming ability. The Science Direct continues by saying that creativity is also measured through originality and effectiveness. 

It is essential to be creative, and many employers search for effective creative skills in their employees, for example in fields such as business, health, medicine, arts, sciences. Many might assume that in science, creativity is not as valued, but critical and creative thinking is a skill that that needs constant practice. When problems arise, creative people can find the best solution. They will think outside of the box. Connected to the expression, think smarter, not harder. 

Creativity is not only a form of expression, but also a way of thinking. AI can not come up with new innovations or alternative ways of thinking, it merely mirrors and imitates what is already there, says a report published in Nature Human Behavior. 

For example, in one experiment performed by Byung Cheol Lee and Jaeyeon Jhung, a group was asked to invent a toy using a fan and a brick. Half the group was allowed to use AI, and the other half were not. The group using AI had similar suggestions which all mirrored each other. On the other hand, the human-only group generated entirely unique ideas. Just 6% of the AI-generated ideas were considered unique, compared with 100% in the human group. 

“If you rely on ChatGPT as your only creative advisor, you’ll soon run out of ideas, because they’re too similar to each other.”

Christian Terwiesch, professor at Wharton College 

This is why it is so important to keep practicing tech-free, hand-made creativity exercises. Creativity is not only useful in specific fields, but it actually helps in every field. 

Many researchers suggest that AI will actually help to fuel human-centered creativity rather than hinder it. In an Op-Ed published in The New York Times, Daniela Amodei, a co-founder of Anthropic, remarks that “the things that make us human will become much more important instead of much less important.” She said that at Anthropic—the maker of Claude—the company is looking to hire people who are “compassionate and curious” about other people. 

Many companies are leaning towards more authentic human creativity. However this is not to say that AI is all positive. I believe that AI may encourage those who are already creatively inclined to avoid it and instead strive for authenticity whereas those who are unwilling to put in the work will take the easy way out. 

Companies and businesses will always value profit over human sincerity, despite how much they claim not to. In a recent internal memo, British multinational bank CEO Bill Winters called for “replacing the company’s ‘lower-value human capital’ with AI,” which unleashed a backlash against the CEO—and AI in general—that has been building exponentially the past few years. 

If human creativity is not valued, it will die out. This is what author Aldous Huxley foretold in the dystopian novel, Brave New World, describing a futuristic world in which humans are encouraged to use a euphoric drug called “soma,” which induces a feeling of pleasure and contentment. Soma can be likened to Artificial Intelligence as it similarly suppresses human creativity. In a world where creativity and innovation is not desired or needed, it dies out. 

Creativity at AISB

Many teachers – especially Arts, Design, and English teachers – are having to face this issue of AI as a crutch or outright block on student’s creativity. 

MYP and DP Theatre teacher Jennifer Lawless remains hopeful: “In theatre, you could fake a script, but you still need people to act it out. And you still need human beings in the audience, which cannot be faked and imitated.”  She is certainly correct in her assumption. In a field such as theatre, AI cannot replace live performance based human expression, because humans are at the forefront of it. 

However, according to the New York Times, the COVID pandemic has drastically reduced theater as a viable career. In 2024, attendance at theatrical productions dropped 19 percent and revenues plummeted 37 percent from the year prior, according to SMU DataArts. “Everybody is hurting, but theaters are hurting at a different scale than other arts organizations,” says Jen Benoit-Bryan, the executive director of SMU DataArts.

With the rise of AI voice actors and AI actors employed in commercials and movies, the career path of actors looks apocalyptic.

One excellent example of creativity within our AISB community was this year during the grade 10 Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU), when they had to write poetry in English class and connect it to their respective Arts classes. 

In English classes, the teachers made a conscious decision to restrict all writing to notebooks completed during class time. Although this certainly posed some challenges for students who have become accustomed to technology assisting their writing. 

“It was tough not having my laptop,” reports one anonymous grade 10 student. “Even if I didn’t plan on using AI or ChatGPT, I still needed it for rhyming words, for inspiration, and for synonyms. I also struggled working entirely in class. It was hard focusing and writing something meaningful fully in class, with a tight deadline as well.”

MYP English Language & Literature teacher Kyle Carlin, one of the teachers who implemented this rule, remains hopeful, but he reminds us of the issues that AI can pose. “If [AI] is misused as in, students just asking AI to do the work for them, then yes, it completely removes the human experience of struggle, process, and failure… all the messy parts that actually make creativity real.” Carlin goes on to recall how the previous year’s group had ideas that lacked authenticity, the AI clearly apparent in their typed final drafts. 

We can see that at AISB, there is a fervent attempt at preserving creativity despite the impact AI might have, which aligns well with what research suggests. Teachers at AISB need to think of innovative ways to encourage students to be creative, similar to the English department.

Practicing Creativity in Your Day-to-Day

So, how can we practice our own creativity in practical and small steps? Here are a few starting points:

✮⋆˙Instead of constantly being surrounded by music, consider walking in silence. And although this may feel grueling, this is the time with the most practical thinking. The term shower thoughts originates from this exact concept. In the shower, we are surrounded by the white noise of water running and nothing else which is why it gives all of us a chance to daydream and reflect on ourselves. 

✮⋆˙AI will always be tempting, but instead of immediately running to it the second a project has been given, stop for a moment and talk to a friend about your ideas or write it out on paper instead.

✮⋆˙In addition to step two, consider logging out of ChatGPT or whichever AI you tend to use to create a hurdle before instinctively chasing down the answers.

✮⋆˙Find pieces of creativity from over four years ago to remind yourself of who you were before AI and inspire your creativity moving forward

✮⋆˙Once you get a new assignment, get out a notebook and draft your ideas in there rather than on a google doc, or with a chatbot.

There are many more small but actionable steps that can be taken to improve creativity within our lives not only for our self expression but also for our futures. 

And to the teachers, try not to grade the final product of students’ creativity. Instead of putting pressure on students, try to grade their messy and real process to teach students that true learning is the process rather than the grade.