Generative artificial intelligence enhances creativity but reduces the diversity of novel content

TL;DR

Generative AI can boost individual creativity and improve story quality but tends to produce more homogeneous content, raising concerns about diversity in creative outputs.

Contribution

This study provides causal evidence on how GenAI influences creativity and content diversity through an online experiment with writers.

Findings

GenAI increases perceived story quality and enjoyment.

GenAI stories are more similar to each other than human-only stories.

Less creative writers benefit most from GenAI assistance.

Abstract

Creativity is core to being human. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) holds promise for humans to be more creative by offering new ideas, or less creative by anchoring on GenAI ideas. We study the causal impact of GenAI on the production of a creative output in an online experimental study where some writers are could obtain ideas for a story from a GenAI platform. Access to GenAI ideas causes an increase in the writer's creativity with stories being evaluated as better written and more enjoyable, especially among less creative writers. However, GenAI-enabled stories are more similar to each other than stories by humans alone. Our results have implications for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners interested in bolstering creativity, but point to potential downstream consequences from over-reliance.