Caring about Creativity and New forms of AI 🧠🤖

Assembled and written by Rob Tyrie

creativity and AI 1800's -📸 @robtyrie MJ

I am thinking books on creativity by some of the best psychologists in the world to think more about how creativity changes or is assaulted depending on your viewpoint by artificial intelligence especially related to generative AI that is multi-model.

I’ve been in the number of discussions with people that are either enthused or very fearful for what will happen to human creativity. On the beautiful side there is a multitude of opportunities to use things like image generation and large language models to transform things into novel items that have never been seen before. They seem to draw out the best in the most average of human artistry whether it be in stories, research, or digital art.

On the negative side some people don’t think it’s fair that humans can be imitated so well.. and they’re calling on Justin to be shut down because they’re just Giant photocopiers. (Note: gpt’s and llms are not giant photocopiers. That’s a bad metaphor).

Some others are afraid that your ability to create will atrophy and we will live at the will of the creativity of unfeeling machines and that doesn’t seem like a future with freedom. It seems like the bad parts of The Matrix… no matter how good the steak tastes you’re still in a simulation wired into a set of goo feeding you in a capsule.

By doing the research.. I think it’s possible to develop a good time taxonomy and agreed upon definitions of slippery things like creativity and human creativity that will help get past some of the simple disagreements.

I am purely most interested in the idea of how computers can be used to augment and supercharge the creativity of humans with humans in the loop. I think that’s the future and that’s why I do the research.

Here’s a good set to start with, the only one without it because it’s essential in creativity is the Bible of decision Theory, Daniel Kahneman’s.

How’s it working proposition I think that creativity can be divided into 16 different areas using techniques in typical psychological profiling... Including using extraversion and introversion just for fun.

In the art lab 2028 - 📸 Rob Tyrie mj

Here are some critical thinking questions for each of the books.

1. What is the model for creativity that the authors are leaning into. What types of creativity are identified.
2. What is the essence of human creativity from each author’s perspective.
3. Are there any repeating patterns across theories and experimentations that should be synthesized.
4. What are the pros and cons of thinking about creativity this way to a very much of a psychological lens.
5. Are there models of other branches of science and thoughts that consider creativity such as mathematics, religion or art?

The first of 20, here are the first 5 books exploring human creativity:

1. "The Essence of Creativity: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Human Imagination"
- Authors:
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - [Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention](https://www.harpercollins.com/products/creativity-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi)
- Robert J. Sternberg - [The Nature of Creativity: Contemporary Psychological Perspectives](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/nature-of-creativity/4EA4D27E7B7C68F1066513F8EE376FFB)
- Mark A. Runco - [Creativity: Theories and Themes: Research, Development, and Practice](https://www.elsevier.com/books/creativity/runco/978-0-12-410512-6)

2. "Artificial Imagination: The Rise of Creative AI"
- Authors:
- Margaret Boden - [AI: Its Nature and Future](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ai-9780198777984)
- Arthur I. Miller - [The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/artist-machine)
- Marcus du Sautoy - [The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI](https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674988132)

3. "Cyborg Artistry: When Human and Machine Collide"
- Authors:
- Neil Harbisson - [Cyborg Arts: The Synthetic Senses](https://www.cyborgarts.com/)
- Moon Ribas - [Seismic Sense: Imagining the Future of Human Perception](https://www.moonribas.com/seismic-sense)
- Stelarc - [Stelarc: The Monograph](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/stelarc)

4. "The Future of Creativity: Opportunities and Challenges in the Age of AI"
- Authors:
- Kai-Fu Lee - [AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order](https://www.aisuperpowers.com/)
- Erik Brynjolfsson - [The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies](https://www.secondmachineage.com/)
- Amy Webb - [The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity](https://amywebb.io/books/)

5. "Towards a Unified Theory of Creativity: Bridging the Human-AI Divide"
- Authors:
- Ken Robinson - [Out of Our Minds: The Power of Being Creative](https://www.sirkenrobinson.com/out-of-our-minds/)
- Ed Catmull - [Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration](https://www.creativityincbook.com/)
- Tim Brown - [Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation](https://www.ideo.com/post/change-by-design)