AI is here – and undoubtedly here to stay – and everyone is talking about how great it is for creativity and innovation. But will it really make a difference to your business?
Artificial intelligence options, such as OpenAI, are definitely tools with a huge creative potential. They can be used to produce almost-instant images, text, even software. But it’s important to remember that AI is just a tool – it is not conscious, sentient, or even particularly intelligent. AI mimics the results of intelligence and whether those results are new & exciting or tired & derivative depends largely on its human operators. That’s where creativity and innovation still reside: in people. So, let’s focus for a moment on the operator…
Does our brain determine our creativity?
Yes, the brain shapes our approaches to creativity and innovation, but it doesn’t depend on whether you’re ‘right-brained’ or not. In fact, the whole left brain / right brain creativity thing is a myth.
Yes, different sides of the brain broadly control different functions (language on the right, spatial awareness on the left, for example) but there is no evidence that some people have a stronger network or more complex connections on one side or another. And when we look at the creative process as a whole, it’s clear that a number of functions and both sides of the brain are necessary.
Creativity as a process
If you think creativity is just about coming up with new ideas, then your business won’t be launching any groundbreaking, market-beating new products or services anytime soon. Just thinking “sliced yoghurt” isn’t enough to get your new yoghurt slices on the supermarket shelves and into the customer’s shopping trolley. The creative process usually looks something like this:
- Preparation – coming up with wild ideas; inspiration; asking what if? The raw material of creativity.
- Incubation – taking a break from consciously working on the ideas; letting the results of the Preparation stage simmer.
- Illumination – the Eureka! Moment when you get clarity on a possible solution/design/product/concept; you can see how it might work.
- Evaluation – research; critical analysis; making practical comparisons; asking will it work, and how will it work? Is the idea worth investment or is it back to the drawing board (the Preparation stage)?
- Implementation – doing it! Getting the new product or service (or whatever) in front of customers.
What’s clear is that a process like this requires a number of different skills and activities. It’s not just thinking of the previously unthought, it’s also about rigorous logic and analysis. Business creativity is both fun and intensely practical.
The problem with the left brain / right brain myth is that it encourages us to self-label as “creative” or “not creative”. Actually, whatever an individual’s skill set, strengths or personal preferences, they can contribute to the creative process.
It’s about your people
Buying an AI product or licence for your people and expecting them to immediately be more creative is like buying a non-driver a car and expecting them to be able to drive without learning; or giving a non-carpenter a hammer and saw and expecting them to build you a table.
If you’re really going to take full advantage of the innovation tools of tomorrow, you need to encourage and grow human creativity first by acknowledging and enabling everybody’s contribution to creative outcomes that will benefit your business.
To delve further into human creativity, how the brain can shape approaches to creativity and innovation, and how you can encourage creative approaches in the workplace, check out our free taster webinar on 8th November 2024, at 10.00am. Or give us a call on 01582 463460; we’re here to help.
