AI prompts can boost writers' creativity but result in similar stories
Ideas generated by ChatGPT can help writers who lack inherent flair but may mean there are fewer unique ideas. Once upon a time, all stories were written solely by humans. Now, researchers have found AI might help authors tell a tale.
Study on AI-generated Ideas
A study suggests that ideas generated by the AI system ChatGPT can help boost the creativity of writers who lack inherent flair – albeit at the expense of variety. Prof Oliver Hauser, a co-author of the research from the University of Exeter, mentioned that the results of the study present a social dilemma.
He stated, “It may be individually beneficial for you to use AI, but as a society if everyone used AI, we might all lose out on the diversity of unique ideas. And, arguably, for creative endeavors we might sometimes need the ‘wild’ and ‘unusual’ ideas.”
Research Methodology and Findings
The team conducted a study involving 293 participants to investigate the impact of AI-generated ideas on the creativity of writers. Participants were assigned different topics and asked to write a story. Some were provided with pre-generated ideas by ChatGPT, while others had no assistance.
Results published in Science Advances show that access to AI-generated ideas improved the novelty and usefulness ratings of the stories. The effect was more significant for participants with greater access to AI ideas.
Dr. Anil Doshi, a co-author of the study from University College London, noted, “The effect sizes are not very large, but they were statistically significant.” Stories with AI-generated ideas were found to be more enjoyable, have more plot twists, and be better written.
Impact on Writers with Low Inherent Creativity
Interestingly, writers with low inherent creativity benefited the most from AI-generated ideas. The study revealed that participants with access to AI-generated ideas produced stories with greater similarity, possibly due to the predictability of AI-generated concepts.
