Our public conversation about artificial intelligence oscillates between fantasies of human-like intelligence and fears of sentient AI overlords taking over the world. This overlooks the real danger posed by large language models, argues Armin Schulz. Since they work by reproducing the average outputs of human language-users, they have an inbuilt tendency to produce conventional, conservative outputs. As we integrate these AIs into our lives, there’s therefore a danger that we suppress our distinctively human ability to think creatively and outside the box. If the AI revolution continues to be driven by disembodied LLMs, it risks stifling rather than propelling progress.
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on AI and Human Creativity. Part 2 on the potential of AI for creativity by Jessie Hall and Karina Vold is out now.
It may seem that large language models (LLMs) are coming for us: not a day goes by without another headline about how ChatGPT, DeepSeek and their ilk have achieved another stunning feat (Writing jokes! Winning poetry contests! Passing Law Schools Entrance Exams!). Is it true that LLMs will soon reach human-level intelligence? Will they make human cognition obsolete?
The answer to both questions is no. However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be careful in how we use these systems—for LLMs’ very structure may actually limit, rather than enhance, our thinking.
To see this, let’s start by considering what it means to think like a human. Human cognition is a particular combination of concepts (“He is just hangry;” “That’s institutional corruption”), cognitive abilities (while getting a PhD, we may delay gratification of pleasures for years and for highly uncertain and abstract gains), and dispositions for social learning and engineering (we study at a university to figure out how to build fMRI machines). While there are many interesting details about how this works, what is key in this context is that these concepts, abilities, and dispositions interact to make human engagement with the world possible and efficient.
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