Study: Generative AI Now Outperforms Average Humans on Creativity Tests

A massive new study comparing more than 100,000 people with today's most advanced AI systems delivers a surprising result: generative AI can now beat the average human on certain creativity tests.

The study, recently published and reported on by ScienceDaily, is one of the largest comparative studies ever conducted between human and artificial creativity. While AI demonstrates impressive results on divergent thinking — the ability to generate many different ideas from a single prompt — it is important to put these findings in context.

Creativity tests used in such studies typically measure the quantity and variety of ideas (e.g., "how many uses can you think of for a brick?"), rather than the deep, context-sensitive creativity that is the core competency of experienced humans in practice.

For leaders and organizations, this raises important questions: Can AI tools be actively used in ideation phases, creative processes, and innovation work? The answer is increasingly yes — but best as a complement to human expertise and context, not as a replacement.