Built on our ability to create (creativity), innovation remains an area where there are distinct human advantages when compared to AI. The ability to see new possibilities, access innovation, and discover novel solutions, regardless of an individual’s role or an organization’s industry, is a skill that AI does not possess. Innovation is proving to be the essential driver that allows companies to not only navigate boundaries but to thrive within them – assisted by the compute power of AI. According to The World Economic Forum, human innovation remains vital in the workplace, as AI can not replace human creativity. At least, not yet.
Innovation: How Humans and AI Work Together
With the ability to instantly access every cranny of the internet, as well as all of recorded history, it often appears that AI possesses creativity. David Cropley, a professor at the University of South Australia, says, “In our research we explored the relationship between AI and humans, finding that generative AI is not a replacement for human skills like creativity, but rather a supplement or a tool that we will need to manage.” When confronted with the extraordinary output of AI, such as a rendering of the Mona Lisa looking at a smartphone, Copley admits that the picture has the appearance of creativity. “But this does not mean that the AI is creative. Yes, the resulting picture is novel and effective, but it’s not because AI had any special ability, but because I produced a creative prompt. The only thing the AI really did was save me the trouble of learning how to paint.”
If necessity is the mother of invention, creativity is the father of innovation. Does that make AI the midwife? It seems that every metaphor has its limits. However, when it comes to unique human advantages, (aka: how you make progress in your career) it’s wise to remember the power of innovation.
There are four key areas, centered around innovation and creativity, that separate human beings from AI:
- Emotional Intelligence and Empathy: AI, despite its ability to mimic human language and even generate emotionally-toned content, fundamentally lacks genuine emotions, subjective experiences, and the ability to truly understand and appreciate the nuances of human feelings. Sam Drauschak, a process scientist specializing in AI usage for small business, says it simply: “AI has no world model. Anything that starts to require context, especially multiple levels of context, AI starts to fail more.” Are you able to sort through cues and clues, in the real world, and create prompts that drive innovation? That skill is your competitive advantage.
- Intuition and Contextual Understanding: the ability to rely on gut instinct requires you to have a gut. While AI excels at analyzing vast datasets and identifying patterns, it often struggles with the broader context of a situation, inference and overall interpretation. AI can mimic human behavior, but it struggles to predict it (again, because of a lack of real-world context, intuition and true understanding) what unpredictable humans are going to do next. According to a study from Johns Hopkins University, AI struggles to recognize human intentions and social interactions in motion.
- Originality: How would you define innovation? It has to be original, right? AI’s “creativity” is based on combining existing ideas and patterns from its training data in new ways. The output can be impressive. But humans excel at creating “out of the box” – based on our own experiences, values and morals.
- AI is Kind of a Sociopath: “AI is like a consultant when it’s wrong,” Drauschak explains. “It may be incorrect, but it’s never unsure of itself.” As we might share information along with saying, “I’m about 60% sure of this direction”, AI does not possess that level of nuance. TechCrunch reports that Anthropic’s new AI model tried to blackmail company engineers when it was told it would be shut down. In areas of empathy, concern, and moral ambiguity, humans are still light years ahead of AI. Innovation without instinct and oversight can be incorrect – and even dangerous.
Integrating AI: Exploring Human Collaboration and Innovation
Leah Cooper is the Chief Digital Officer at Sedgwick, a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits, and integrated business solutions. As a technologist, she echoes the importance of human innovation in collaboration with AI. Sedgwick helps organizations manage claims and mitigate risk, operating within a highly structured environment where adherence to regulations is paramount.Yet, as Cooper explains, creativity is central to their success. When it comes to AI, she says, “The reality is that we’re talking about innovation inside of very bounded processes, and you can’t be innovative if you can’t be creative.”
Sedgwick’s solutions empower examiners to navigate complex regulatory frameworks while simultaneously fostering creative problem-solving. This seemingly paradoxical approach is precisely where creativity shines. By embracing new ways of thinking, even within stringent guidelines, Sedgwick helps its clients achieve superior outcomes. “Creativity is about asking ‘what if?’ and then daring to find the answers. It’s the essence of progress,” Cooper shares. “When we talk about creativity in this context, it’s about solving a problem with a better solution, a more streamlined process,” with or without AI in the picture.
Augmenting Innovation with AI: A New Frontier
“AI doesn’t do anything new,” Drauschak says. “It can synthesize things from lots of different domains, and the labor of synthesizing things can seem to generate insight. Like a brilliant intern – with the ability to process billions of data points at once – it’s going to come up with good ideas and contribute. But it’s a really good idea to check on the work,” he explains.
“The future belongs to those who create it” is a quote allegedly attributed to Abraham Lincoln. But, in the future of work, those who create the future faster will do so in collaboration with AI. Perhaps “Trust, but verify” is another good reminder around working with AI. Understanding what AI can and can’t do can help you to position your skills – and leverage the power of innovation.
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a transformative opportunity to amplify human creativity and accelerate innovation. The key for the future of work is being able to play to AI’s strengths – like Drauschak’s advanced intern model. Far from replacing human innovation, AI can serve as a powerful co-pilot on the journey of discovery and co-creation. By providing access to vast amounts of data, surfacing new insights, and accelerating research, AI augments human cognitive abilities, allowing individuals and teams to explore possibilities more rapidly and thoroughly than ever before. For leaders today, the question isn’t when are we going to use AI to access greater innovation, it’s how.
