Unlocking creativity with AI: Sparking innovation and imagination

You’re probably thinking about AI all wrong.

“Productivity” is the keyword of choice in headlines and pitch decks. But our collective obsession with optimization isn’t just boring, it’s dangerous. If all we do is squeeze pennies from a groundbreaking new technology—or use it as a substitute for tasks that humans do better—we abdicate our responsibility for steering the tech in the right direction.

Forget “doing things better”—let’s “do better things.” Instead of using AI to do your work for you, use it to spark creative thinking on your team.

So, let’s change the conversation. It’s not about how AI can help us become more efficient (and more homogenous); it’s about how AI can be a catalyst for creativity.

Supercharging creative building blocks with AI

AI can supercharge the creative building blocks that lead to breakthrough innovation, helping us:

• Reframe problems and recombine ideas in new permutations
• Expose ourselves to spontaneous novelty
• Roleplay faster and more unexpectedly
• See the big picture and identify patterns
• Add depth and texture to our observations
• Engage with more inputs

To win in the age of AI, we must evolve alongside the machine and imagine things that don’t yet exist. Buckminster Fuller said it best: “If you want to change something, build a better model that makes the old model obsolete.”

Is AI more creative than analytical?

What if I told you AI was better suited for creativity than decision-making?

Many organizations are stuck thinking of AI as a tool for automating mundane tasks. While, sure, that’s part of it, that kind of thinking ignores the full power and intrinsic value of AI. What’s more, people are freaked. Recent Ipsos research showed 63% of Americans admitted AI made them nervous. What will our role be in the future? It certainly won’t look the same as it does today.

The reality is AI is better at some tasks than others, and where it struggles and excels might be a little surprising. Harvard Business Review studied how AI impacted consulting work at BCG. Across the board, the results were significant. Consultants using AI completed 12.2% more tasks, 25.1% faster, and with 40% higher quality.

But there were areas that AI failed “completely or subtly.” The quality of analytical decision making in some cases decreased. And perhaps surprisingly, the quality of creative tasks—like generative thinking, problem solving, reframing—skyrocketed.

The surprising emergence of AI for creativity over productivity

Many researchers expected AI would master logical analysis first and later evolve to higher level human cognition like creativity. But the machine’s ability to think wildly and incorporate many inputs makes it an engine unlike any other for creative thinking. That’s because AI hallucinations are more a feature than a bug. As Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, explained: “a lot of value from these systems is heavily related to the fact that they do hallucinate. If you want to look something up in a database, we already have good stuff for that.”

If that’s true, maybe our relationship to AI needs to change. It’s not about mastering a tool, but evolving a mindset.

May I have this dance? Embracing AI as a creative partner

First, we need better metaphors. How about a dance partner?

“The goal is not to remove the rapper from the process. But to keep the rapper involved in a more informed and empowered way.” – Lupe Fiasco on writing with AI

When I run AI workshops, I ask people how they’re using the technology today. The overwhelming majority use it to make their job faster or easier. But less than a quarter say they use AI to do something completely new. We need to change that if we want to invent net-new ideas, inspire action, and enhance our ability to enact significant change on our planet.

To do this, we don’t need to learn a new technology. We must embrace a shift in mindset: From answers to inspiration; from outputs to process; from direction to collaboration.

We should treat AI like a dance partner.

A dance partnership works with a series of synchronized and complementary movements. It involves the initiation of momentum or “energy” and then the subsequent maintenance, exaggeration, decreasing, or dissolving of this momentum by both partners. I see our relationship to AI as a process of compression (coming together) and tension (pulling apart while in connection)—alternating leverage, where one party shifts, grounding the other in a back-and-forth that feeds a dynamic interplay.

AI can supercharge the building blocks of creativity—if you can find the kaleidoscopic movements to unlock it.

How AI is evolving human creativity and thinking 

To properly lead this dance, we must recognize that AI will change us as humans, even as we train it. From the hammer to the iPhone, all technology changes how we interact with the world. The impact of the camera on our eyesight is a great example of what we may expect AI to do to our brains. 

One of the most prescient writers of art criticism, Walter Benjamin, argued that the capability of the camera lens transformed the functionality of our ocular lens. After the camera, we actually saw differently—our brain processed the information sent to it by our eyes with a wholly new configuration. If a camera is exogenous seeing, AI is externalized thinking. How will brains change because of it?

Why AI is a powerful catalyst for creative breakthroughs

Contrary to conventional opinion in artistic circles, I believe that AI will boost (not blunt) us in the process of creativity for two reasons. 1) AI isn’t a continuation of existing paradigms; it’s an entirely new one. That means the application of it is not inevitable—it’s up for grabs. After all, what inspires creativity more than something new? 2) AI is already equipped with the skills we associate with creativity. Let me tell you how.

Six building blocks of creative thinking

In my research and work, I’ve identified 6 elemental building blocks required for creative thinking:

1. Recombination of existing ideas and reframing problems
2. Exposure to novel and spontaneous stimuli
3. Play and flexibility across iterations
4. Seeing the big picture and emergent patterns
5. Empathetic observation and attention to detail
6. Collaboration, critique, and abrasion

When done well, AI can power our creative practice with a scale and speed previously beyond human capability.

• Recombination: AI → faster iterations
• Novelty: AI → spontaneous and diverse inputs
• Play: AI → inventive roleplay
• Big picture: AI → new vantage points
• Observation: AI → volume and texture of inputs
• Collaboration: AI → instant feedback

That means AI can expand our skills, transforming how we approach creative challenges. But more importantly, our new partnership should inspire designers, business folks, and activists alike to imagine bigger. Do we finally have the tools to, as Buckie Fuller said, “build a better model” that renders our most wicked, unfixable problems obsolete?

A creative’s call to arms: Welcome AI as your collaborator

So, in the spirit of the dance, I let AI take the lead and write a call to arms for all you creatives out there wary of AI.

AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a creative collaborator. To lead in this new paradigm, we need to shift our focus from outputs to process, from answers to inspiration, and from direction to collaboration. It’s about embracing a mindset where AI augments, not replaces, our creativity.

Whether you’re a designer, strategist, or curious thinker, this is your moment. Let AI enhance your ability to think broadly, iterate quickly, and imagine boldly.

Mural’s AI tools are designed to act as assistant, collaborator, and coach, helping inspire your creativity and take your projects to the finish line. Sign up for a free account to try out our AI tools today.

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