⏳ Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 7 seconds
Hey there 👋 Felix here!
When was the last time you were truly creative?
I’m not talking about asking Microsoft Copilot to generate 10 ideas for a creative out-of-office reply while sipping margaritas on the beach. I’m talking about coming up with something truly original.
But this article is not about brainstorming the old way either. No, no. We all know there is a new sheriff in town. Generative AI.
Ready to beat it?
Today’s topics:
Where humans still outperform AI, and why that won’t change anytime soon
An evidence-based approach to developing the best ideas possible
The unusual strategy to become better at judging ideas
Now to today’s piece 🤝
An inventor, a manager and an AI (let’s call him Robi) walk into a meeting room. Each one has to judge what the best innovation idea is. Who will be best at picking the most creative one? Answer: “the manager”. Weird, I know, but hear me out…
Research has found that AI already generates better ideas than most humans.
And it’s not surprising. LLMs have access to a vast store of human knowledge, and they can detect patterns around what we find novel and useful, aka creative.
Yes, AI is better than humans at creating novel and useful ideas, but there is a caveat. The best ideas are not useful in the beginning.
They become useful.
This is called the second best idea paradox.
Humans tend to have a bias towards practical ideas. So they judge useful ideas better than abstract (not yet defined) ones, although those often have more upside potential.
So what people typically judge as their second-best idea, the less useful ones, often end up being the best ideas after refinement.
Right now, it seems AI is great at generating novel and useful ideas right away, in seconds, but research shows it plateaus early.
These AI, or even AI–human hybrid ideas, don’t improve much through refinement. On the other hand, human-generated ideas can improve through feedback and clash with reality.
🧠 3 Big Implications for Innovators
1. Use AI to generate novel and useful ideas fast
Don’t expect the biggest breakthrough, but it’s great for everyday creativity. Use it to create alternatives, speed up your creative work, develop improvements or marketing campaigns.
AI models often surpass the average human in divergent thinking, generating varied ideas, and can effectively filter out poor-quality ones. However, the top 10% of creative humans consistently outperform AI.
2. If you want to think big, do something crazy
By “crazy,” I mean talking to people. Yes, the air quality might be poor in a room where everyone is letting their ideas flow freely. But it’s still the best way to think originally if you follow these steps:
Focus on wild and not useful ideas first
Make ideas useful later through refinement
Use that strategy for ideas that need real-world contact to become great. They improve through practical reality and interaction with real customers.
You learn things you didn’t know beforehand. Things you could not have known. The stuff that is not on the internet. And therefore, AI cannot be better at this.
By exploring, failing, and learning, you discover unique knowledge that gives you the edge.
3. Become better at judging and selecting
It’s a bit funny. Remember the inventor, the manager and our friend Robi? I said the manager wins, here is why.
The inventor is biased when judging her own ideas. People favour what is practical, so she will likely pick the safe option.
Robi is not there yet. AI is great at generating ideas, but it struggles to pick the best one. It has no intuition, many situations are too complex, and it relies on past data. On top of this, Robi would most likely pick an idea that sounds useful right away, not one that might become great through refinement.
So why the manager?
Most of the time, she is not better. She only gets good when she drops the manager mindset and enters a creative state.
Managers who generate ideas themselves first become the best at judging ideas from others.
Yet most companies keep idea generation and evaluation strictly separate. Avoid that mistake.
One last thing
Creativity is essential for innovation and, ultimately, not only for the growth of your company but also for its survival.
But creativity is not the right term you should use to drive innovation. Quite the opposite.
In my latest YouTube video, I show you how to estimate the impact of innovation on your future EBIT. This turns innovation from a “nice to have” into a “must have”.
Check out my video on the expected EBIT impact formula.
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See you next week!
Cheers,
Felix “Reframe” Hofmann
Founder of the Psychology of Innovation