GenAI makes creativity instant: no block, no lag, just output. But when machines handle the hardest part—idea generation—original thinking suffers. The brain disengages, instincts fade, and the creative edge begins to dull.
Kaile Smith is the Founder of AWEN and a Doctoral Researcher whose work sits at the intersection of psychology, neuroaesthetics, and creativity. To avoid the cognitive atrophy that comes with overreliance on AI, she argues that creatives must intentionally protect the mental friction that fuels deep, original thinking.
Generation vs. evaluation: "It's helpful to think about the creative process in two pieces: the idea generation phase and the idea evolution phase," says Smith. "We want to keep those initial generation phases as pure to ourselves as possible, before involving AI in the evaluation phase." This approach positions AI as an "amplifier, maximizer, editor, and coach," not an originator of ideas. Preserving that early stage keeps the brain fully engaged, strengthening the mental pathways that fuel original thinking.
Use it or lose it: That framework hinges on one fundamental truth: true creative strength is built by enduring what Smith calls "cognitive friction." The mentally demanding process of creation isn't a flaw to be engineered away, but a vital part of cognitive growth. "Creative thinking is cognitively very taxing; there's a lot of friction," Smith says. "You're using so many different systems in the brain that are all working together. We need to be able to sit with some of that friction in order to maintain our ability to have deep and creative thinking."
The 'mushy middle': The stakes of getting this wrong extend beyond the individual mind to the collective culture. Smith warns that AI is a powerful accelerant for an existing trend of cultural homogenization, a phenomenon some UPenn researchers have called the "sprinkler effect," where AI-generated ideas tend to cluster around a safe, common center. If everyone defaults to AI for initial ideation, we risk being pulled into a cultural dead zone.
"If we're putting our ideas directly into AI in the beginning, you're going to get what I call the 'mushy middle,'" she says. "You're getting pulled into the middle, and those more out-there ideas just don't come. And what happens to a culture when we don't have any of those really wacky, out-there ideas that make people dream about what's possible? That's really scary."
Expertise needed: The rules for engaging with AI aren’t universal. Like teaching a child long division before handing over a calculator, Smith argues that experience should determine when AI enters the process. Seasoned creatives have a more refined critical instinct. "If you already have a high level of expertise, you're going to have a much better internal filter for AI's suggestions," she notes. "You can see the potential, use it, push against it, challenge it, and use that as a springboard."
Less experienced creatives are more vulnerable. Without the context to evaluate AI's suggestions, they may accept mediocre ideas not just out of inexperience but because the output often sounds polished and impressive. "You're more likely to accept whatever's given to you if it's not your area of expertise because it all sounds great, especially if it's more than you felt capable of producing on your own."
Beware the creative coma: Still, Smith is optimistic. While research on the best use of AI in creative work is still emerging, she sees immense potential in AI's ability to act as a practical amplifier for a creative's workflow. "It's a lot easier for creatives to market themselves and avoid spending time on things like Instagram captions, instead focusing on a better use of their time," she says. Prototyping is another major opportunity. "The hours I used to spend on Photoshop trying to express a visual idea—now I can do that in 10 seconds," says Smith. "It speeds up how quickly you can generate ideas and makes them easier to sell to clients."
The future of AI in creative work is bright, but Smith argues it comes with a critical condition: human agency remains central to the process. "There are so many positives to incorporating AI in creativity, as long as we don't make ourselves brain-dead in the process."