This blog post delves deeply into whether creativity is an exclusively human ability or if artificial intelligence can also acquire creativity through learning and experience.
Recent rapid advancements in artificial intelligence have sparked a surge in curiosity about its potential. People feel threatened by AI’s progress, with some even claiming an intelligence explosion is imminent, leading to humanity becoming subservient to AI. In response, several experts and artists argue that the realm of creativity is a space reserved solely for humans. This article examines their arguments and aims to demonstrate that creativity is a capability AI can fully possess.
Creativity is crucial. It has played a pivotal role in driving the course of human history. Through creativity, human history has changed and progressed through creative individuals. Modern creative revolutionaries like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Steve Jobs concluded the modern Third Industrial Revolution and paved the way for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Marx’s Communist Manifesto and Beethoven’s symphonies, relics of the modern and medieval eras, still exert a profound global influence. Furthermore, the wisdom and creativity of our ancestors can be glimpsed in ancient Korean achievements like Eulji Mundeok’s Battle of Salsu, Seokguram Grotto, and Bulguksa Temple. The Korean government highlighted creativity as a key virtue emphasized by education experts at the ‘Policy Seminar on Future Education Innovation to Respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era’. Thus, creative thinking has played a vital role throughout human history.
So, what exactly is this remarkable creativity? Creativity is difficult to define easily, and all definitions possess ambiguous aspects. Educational psychology is a field where research on creativity has been continuously pursued. Within academia, the meaning of creativity has evolved as research has progressed. Initially, it was defined as ‘the ability to produce something new, original, and useful’ or ‘the ability to break away from traditional ways of thinking to create new relationships or generate unconventional ideas’. Research began from the perspective of divergent thinking, encompassing fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. However, as research progressed, it expanded to include not only divergent thinking but also convergent thinking, encompassing various intellectual abilities, knowledge, personality traits, and environmental factors. In other words, creativity is influenced not only by conscious thought but also by unconscious thought and efforts. Educationalist E.P. Torrance argued in his book ‘The Nature of Creativity: Contemporary Psychological Perspectives’ that creativity is an indefinable realm, representing the brain’s overall function. Thus, creativity encompasses all areas of the brain and is the most advanced cognitive ability.
First, let’s examine the position that artificial intelligence cannot possess creativity. Many artists assert that inspiration is the core requirement for creative output. That is, they contend that creativity is based on miraculous events that cannot be explained by rational processes. Inspiration is said to be an instantaneous flash that computers can never replicate. Some computer experts also argue that while humans find connections between unrelated things during creative thinking, computers can never possess creativity because they only find new connections between related things. Recent advances in AI research, such as deep learning and machine learning, also rely on accumulating related information. Thus, the position that AI cannot possess creativity is based on the idea that since AI cannot possess intuition or instinct, it also struggles to possess creativity.
Such arguments may arise from a lack of knowledge about brain research and deep learning. However, examining research findings on how the brain operates suggests that artificial intelligence could indeed possess creativity. Examining the brain’s operating principles in Jeff Hawkins’ book ‘The Thinking Brain, The Thinking Machine’ reveals that the current methods of deep learning and the brain’s operating principles are not fundamentally different. The neocortex is the brain tissue responsible for intelligence. Subordinate and superior elements within the neocortex interconnect to store various patterns. Based on these stored patterns, the brain makes inferences and predictions. Creative thinking can be described as inference and prediction. All high-level thinking, as well as simple thinking, occurs in the neocortex according to the same principle. The deep learning methods currently being introduced also share a similar principle. The core of deep learning is prediction through classification. Deep learning is built by stacking multi-layered neural networks, similar to how the neocortex connects lower-level and higher-level elements. Furthermore, it utilizes previously learned domains to classify them and respond to new stimuli. Through continuous learning, it generates new ideas.
It is necessary to examine examples of creative thinking. Creative thinking is often thought that breaks free from fixed ideas. Our brains categorize and compartmentalize based on fixed ideas, but creative thinking shatters that classification system. However, all creative thinking is based on existing knowledge. Einstein’s theory of relativity, considered the most creative approach in the history of physics, did not arise from a mere flash of inspiration. Einstein built upon the knowledge of Maxwell and others in electromagnetism to develop his background understanding of light. Even Beethoven, one of the most innovative artists, mastered the formal structures and compositional techniques of the preceding Baroque and Classical eras. It was through this learning that he created his symphonies. Creative thought is grounded in existing knowledge. Creative ideas are the result of persistent effort and research dedicated to solving problems.
Artificial intelligence operates within the same framework. AI creates outputs based on continuous learning. A prime example is AlphaGo, which sparked last year’s AI craze. Before facing Lee Sedol, it played thousands of Go games. Through this process, it achieved continuous growth and defeated the 9-dan Lee Sedol. Unlike computers from the previous Third Industrial Revolution, computers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, like humans, gain continuous experience. Humans may grow or forget through experience, but AI learns from everything it experiences. Its ability to create new things based on this learning is as exceptional as that of humans.
The ability of AI to think beyond established classification systems becomes the criterion for determining whether it can possess creativity. Innovative thinking that breaks human classification systems never emerges instantly. It is the result of persistent contemplation and effort. Artists also gain inspiration through consistent effort, and because they continue this contemplation, they use the grand term “inspiration” for the moment when a solution emerges. This can be seen as a process of rearranging knowledge previously classified in the neocortex. Artificial intelligence can also achieve this. While it cannot happen instantaneously, AI, like humans, can mobilize information from different classifications and naturally produce creative results when it undergoes a process of ‘contemplation’. In fact, it can efficiently generate what was once considered irrational creativity.
The thought processes of AI and humans are highly similar. AI mimics human thought patterns but operates faster and more accurately. In this context, the question of whether AI can possess humanity’s supreme ability—creativity—is meaningful. We’ve examined the secrets of creativity, once regarded as miraculous. Creativity isn’t entirely novel; it’s the product of existing learned outcomes and sustained effort. Therefore, I believe that in the future, diligent AI can fully embody creativity.
Creativity, once considered humanity’s exclusive domain, can ultimately be possessed by AI too. This isn’t humanity’s end but a new beginning. By harnessing AI with creativity, humans can achieve greater progress. For the first time in human history, humans will collaborate with another species (AI) to advance history. While this journey will involve many failures and hardships, humans have always solved the challenges nature has presented. Now, we have gained a partner to tackle these challenges together.
