100,000 People Test Creativity Against AI: Humans Win Big

A massive creativity showdown just revealed something hopeful about the human brain: we're still better at creative thinking than artificial intelligence, especially when we let our imaginations run wild.

Researchers at Université de Montréal conducted the largest study ever comparing human and AI creativity, testing 100,000 people against leading AI models including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The results surprised everyone who worries about being replaced by machines.

The team used the Divergent Association Task, a psychological test that measures creative thinking by asking participants to list 10 unrelated words in four minutes. The more unconnected the words, the higher the creativity score. AI models took the same test.

Here's where it gets interesting: while AI outscored many participants, half of all humans performed better than the machines. The top 10% of creative humans absolutely crushed their computer competitors.

Professor Karim Jerbi, who led the study, emphasized that this shouldn't be seen as a competition. "Generative AI has above all become an extremely powerful tool in the service of human creativity," he said. "It will not replace creators, but profoundly transform how they imagine, explore, and create."

The researchers also tested creative writing abilities through haikus, film synopses, and short stories. Once again, the most creative humans came out on top. Even more telling: AI models showed their best creativity when guided well by human partners.

The Bright Side

This research arrives at a perfect moment. Around 800 artists recently banded together to campaign against AI-generated content that exploits creators. This study offers scientific backing for what many artists have been saying all along: human creativity remains irreplaceable.

The findings suggest we should rethink how we view AI. Instead of seeing it as a threat to human creativity, we can embrace it as a powerful tool that amplifies our natural abilities. The machines need us just as much as we might benefit from them.

"By directly confronting human and machine capabilities, studies like ours push us to rethink what we mean by creativity," Jerbi explained. The complexity and nuance of human creative thinking remains something even today's most advanced AI struggles to fully replicate.

The research proves that while technology advances rapidly, the human brain's creative capacity continues to hold its own in remarkable ways.