A “mathematical ceiling” will prevent Artificial intelligence (AI) from replacing creative artists, according to a new study.
David Cropley, a Professor of Engineering Innovation at the University of South Australia, said the research had smashed the myth that generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, could soon replace society’s most creative playwrights, authors, songwriters, artists and scriptwriters.
“The existing large language models (LLMs) have a built-in mathematical ceiling on their creative capacity, meaning they will never rival the originality or ingenuity of the most creative individuals,” Professor Cropley said.
He said the study computed the creative ability of LLMs using standard mathematical principles.
“The results showed that LLM creativity has a maximum of 0.25 on a scale from 0 (no creativity) to 1 (maximum creativity).
“While AI can mimic creative behaviour – quite convincingly at times – its actual creative capacity is capped at the level of an average human and can never reach professional or expert standards under current design principles.”
Professor Cropley said the findings challenged widespread assumptions about AI’s creative powers and offered clarity amid a global debate that had often been clouded by hype and misunderstanding.
“Many people think that because ChatGPT can generate stories, poems or images, that it must be creative. But generating something is not the same as being creative. LLMs are trained on a vast amount of existing content. They respond to prompts based on what they have learned, producing outputs that are expected and unsurprising.
“Unfortunately, many people misunderstand the meaning of creativity. They think it means ‘the act of bringing something into being’ or ‘generating’ when in fact it means creating something that is new, original and effective.”
Read the full study: “The Cat Sat on the …?” Why Generative AI Has Limited Creativity.
