AI could become impressively good at writing, designing, and even brainstorming. But when it comes to true creativity, humans still come out on top. A new study published in Advanced Science by researchers at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Barcelona, along with collaborators from IDIBELL, CVC-UAB and the Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, argues that AI’s “creativity” is not real. Rather, it only looks that way on the surface.
Research shows that while generative AI can produce results that appear creative, it largely recombines patterns from existing data rather than generating truly original ideas. In fact, it suggests that AI is struggling with the deeper “thinking process” behind creativity, even if the end result seems impressive. In other words, AI can imitate creativity, but doesn’t really understand it.
Doesn’t AI beat humans in creativity tests?
Nope. Large-scale studies comparing AI to over 100,000 human participants found that AI can actually outperform the average human on certain structured creativity tests. But here’s the catch: The most creative people still outperform AI, often by a significant margin. So while AI raises the base of creativity, it still struggles to reach the top level, where originality, intuition and unique perspective come into play.
This is because human creativity is shaped by emotions, experiences, context and personal perspective. Basically, things that AI just doesn’t have. In addition, AI tends to approximate familiar patterns. Some research even shows that AI-generated content without human guidance can become repetitive or fall into clichés. That’s why AI works best as a creative assistant to help generate ideas or speed up workflows, rather than as a replacement for human imagination.
So is AI the artist or just the assistant?
This is not about AI versus humans, but rather AI versus humans. These tools are great for lifting the lid and helping anyone come up with solid ideas faster than ever before. But the ceiling? This still belongs to the people. AI may remix, refine and accelerate creativity, but that unpredictable spark that creates something truly original is still a human superpower.
