There’s plenty of creativity in the technological world. Some people are beginning to say ‘too much’. The speed of innovation is such that understanding how to control new inventions is becoming impossible. When an invention eats its creator the species changes. We require our species to change but not to lose the aspects of humanity that are unique, rather to develop and nurture them. That’s one problem. An equally important one is the decline in personal creativity and thinking that is being caused by AI.
This is not a criticism of AI but it is a criticism of what we are letting it do to us. Most living creatures have a tendency to laziness if what they need is at hand without effort on their part. Humans have a particular tendency to lazy thinking if we can get someone or something else to do it for us. AI doesn’t think but its imitation of thinking is so good that many people assume that it is not only thinking but also feeling. Clearly AI has no feeling – it just has amazing pretence based on the records it stores and the speed with which it retrieves them.
A major threat to humanity is accepting AI’s answers to our questions as the correct and complete solutions to our curiosity. Used as a jog to thinking AI is like a good teacher nudging us to think harder. Unlike a teacher, AI doesn’t say “Don’t be lazy”. It does rather the opposite, kidding us that what it has given us is the perfect answer. If we think that, we will soon lose the creativity we have that conjures up several ways of saying and doing the same thing.
Look at the picture in today’s Daily Paradox – aliens in the Champs Elysee, Paris. There are many ways to illustrate a Creativity Crisis. This one makes you think about our traditional life being invaded by an alien culture. Exactly what AI is doing to humanity right now. I gave AI the prompt – with three modifications – and AI gave us the picture. Where was the creativity in that exercise? In the prompt, of course. Creativity has always been a major influence in developing human thinking. Why has it suddenly become so urgent?
First because AI has no moral or ethical values built into its system. Humans do, even if, at present, it looks as though we are abandoning them. You do not need to be especially moral to understand that an enjoyable life requires purpose, sustenance, comfort and interest for everyone, not just for ourselves. The competition we must involve to survive in an overcrowded, resource-limited world has led us to treat life as a zero-sum game with only winners and losers. Common sense tells us that for a satisfactory society our neighbour’s comfort is an important element of our own.
Second, the speed that is frightening us is also driving us. You may think that is not a good idea but we have to live with it until it is otherwise controlled. That is increasingly difficult. The alternative is to be there first. For the time being we need to improve our creativity quickly to stay ahead of the field.
It can be done. We need to devote more of our training time to it.
Are we up for that?
Good morning
John Bittleston
We will very much appreciate your answer if you can send it to [email protected].
Thank you.
12 June 2026
