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An empirical investigation of the impact of ChatGPT on creativity

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  • Byung Cheol Lee

    (University of Houston)

  • Jaeyeon (Jae) Chung

    (Rice University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential of ChatGPT for helping humans tackle problems that require creativity. Across five experiments, we asked participants to use ChatGPT (GPT-3.5) to generate creative ideas for various everyday and innovation-related problems, including choosing a creative gift for a teenager, making a toy, repurposing unused items and designing an innovative dining table. We found that using ChatGPT increased the creativity of the generated ideas compared with not using any technology or using a conventional Web search (Google). This effect remained robust regardless of whether the problem required consideration of many (versus few) constraints and whether it was viewed as requiring empathetic concern. Furthermore, ChatGPT was most effective at generating incrementally (versus radically) new ideas. Process evidence suggests that the positive influence of ChatGPT can be attributed to its capability to combine remotely related concepts into a cohesive form, leading to a more articulate presentation of ideas.

Suggested Citation

  • Byung Cheol Lee & Jaeyeon (Jae) Chung, 2024. "An empirical investigation of the impact of ChatGPT on creativity," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(10), pages 1906-1914, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1038_s41562-024-01953-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01953-1
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