# The current state of artificial intelligence generative language models is more creative than humans on divergent thinking tasks

## TL;DR

This study shows that AI models like GPT-4 outperform humans in creative tasks like generating alternative uses or consequences.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence that AI demonstrates higher creative potential than humans in divergent thinking tasks.

## Key findings

- AI generated more original and elaborate responses compared to humans.
- AI outperformed humans across multiple divergent thinking measurements.
- The results suggest AI's creative potential challenges assumptions about human uniqueness in creativity.

## Abstract

The emergence of publicly accessible artificial intelligence (AI) large language models such as ChatGPT has given rise to global conversations on the implications of AI capabilities. Emergent research on AI has challenged the assumption that creative potential is a uniquely human trait thus, there seems to be a disconnect between human perception versus what AI is objectively capable of creating. Here, we aimed to assess the creative potential of humans in comparison to AI. In the present study, human participants (N = 151) and GPT-4 provided responses for the Alternative Uses Task, Consequences Task, and Divergent Associations Task. We found that AI was robustly more creative along each divergent thinking measurement in comparison to the human counterparts. Specifically, when controlling for fluency of responses, AI was more original and elaborate. The present findings suggest that the current state of AI language models demonstrate higher creative potential than human respondents.