Does AI Content Kill Human Creativity, or Spark It?

    AI has become a common topic to talk about these days. To be honest; it completely depends upon the way you use it. If you only use it to complete your assignments, projects and rely completely on it without brainstorming yourself; you are gonna end up degrading your creativity over time. Many students misuse the power of AI by using it to do their assignments and quizzes; which is obviously unethical but also harms their own progress and learning. 

        

       Students who are intelligent enough to leverage AI as a tool rather than a shortcut will learn to unlock levels of creativity that they could not previously see. Think of it as the introduction of a calculator into the classroom. When calculators were introduced in math, there was a fear that they would "kill math skills". In reality, simply providing students with the calculator gives them more freedom from rote arithmetic and more brain space for problem solving and complex concepts. AI is similar.

    If you use AI to generate new ideas, to develop your thinking or to explore ideas from new angles, AI could become a creative partner to your process. A writer that is blocked can turn to AI for some plot twist ideas; a designer can try on a different color palette with AI; or, a student can use AI to explain a complex topic as a precursor to developing their understanding.

    The catch, however, is if you will let AI do your thinking for you, you will be slowly losing the muscle of thinking for yourself - and independently! Creativity is a muscle just like your physical muscles. You only grow creativity through use. If I use AI to write every essay, design every artifacts, or debug or solve writing every line of code, I am essentially outsourcing my muscle of creativity and that is when it becomes a real threat.

    Does AI actually kill human creativity? No, that’s not going to happen if you know how to use it effectively. Rather than viewing AI as your replacement, view it as your partner. Let AI deal with the tedious repeatable components of your work while you stay focused on the human elements: emotions, intuitions, and personal perspective.

    At the end of the day, creativity isn't about the production of something completely new; it is a matter of the ways you can connect ideas. AI can generate avenues worth exploring, but only you can take the journey.