Lindsay Brainard, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, questions whether artificial intelligence can match human creativity in her research, finding that current AI lacks the curiosity essential for genuine creativity. Brainard’s work, supported by a NEH grant, highlights four unique aspects of human creativity that AI cannot replicate, reinforcing the irreplaceability of human creativity in arts and sciences.
Lindsay Brainard, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is focusing her research on the philosophy of creativity amidst rising claims about artificial intelligence (AI). Her study scrutinizes whether AI can rival human creativity.
In her first paper, “The Curious Case of Uncurious Creation,” published in September 2023 in the journal Inquiry, Brainard evaluates the definition and boundaries of creativity. She concludes that contemporary AI models, like ChatGPT, may produce new and valuable outputs but lack curiosity, a crucial component of genuine creativity. Therefore, she believes that human creativity in arts and sciences remains irreplaceable for now.
Brainard’s ongoing research examines whether education should continue to emphasize creativity in students. Supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant, her upcoming paper aims to outline four unique aspects of human creativity that present AI cannot emulate: originality, self-cultivation, connectedness, and imagination.
Brainard, along with her colleague Joshua May, Ph.D., is also planning to launch a course on the ethics of AI by spring 2025 to delve deeper into these critical issues. Through her research, Brainard maintains that AI, as it stands, does not offer a substitute for human creativity.
