Don’t Let AI Kill Brainstorming
About a year ago, I was teaching a podcasting workshop for professors at a small private college in Lexington, Virginia. Each of them had conceptualized their own podcast and began producing a pilot episode. We gathered into a group to think about the names and taglines for their podcasts. Some of them had already given it some thought; others were starting from scratch. Taking turns, each person gave their best idea for a name and maybe a tagline. None of them were very excited about what they had so far. These were some extremely smart, educated, and accomplished people. So why couldn’t they come up with effective blog names?
I asked them to take out a piece of paper or open a blank file on their computer. Then I asked them to write down fifty different words related to their overall podcast theme. Most of them groaned. And the rest gave me a look like they were never going to be able to list fifty related words or phrases.
I asked them to let go of the idea of quality because we weren’t going even close to actually naming their podcast yet. We were simply generating some material to work with. We weren’t going to focus on the best ideas. Instead, we were going to prioritize two other principles: speed and exhaustion.
I simply asked them not to pause in their thinking until they had fifty words or phrases on their list. They were good sports about it, and at the end of ten minutes, everyone had at least 50 words or phrases.
Then I asked them to create a variety of combinations using the five most relevant entries and the five least relevant. Then we choose the five weirdest and wrote a sentence about them. And we continued with a few other tinkerings. By the time we were done, most of the professors felt great about the Podcast name they’d created. Some were really weird and evocative; the rest were precisely descriptive.
So why did it work?
I’m not sure why it works, but it’s pretty effective for a lot of different situations. Let’s go back to the first of those two principles: speed. The reason I ask people not to pause is so that they don’t get too attached to their own interest in one of their entries. I want them to resist clustering ideas around something that seems to resonate with them. That idea’s not going anywhere. They can come back to cluster around it later. I want them to break the threads linking one entry to the next. I don’t want progression; I want leaps of logic and unexpected associations.
Exhaustion might sound like a rather unpleasant goal for a writing exercise, but I think it’s essential for brainstorming. I always try to choose a number or minimum time that will push them past the ideas they already have or will come easily to them. Generally, these ideas and connections are already familiar to most people. They offer anything new. It’s difficult to separate your ideas from the rest of a sea of ideas. Pushing past the easy, familiar, or expected ideas forces a writer to come up with unexpected, weird, and more challenging ideas.
Once you have a list of ideas with a little more sparkle and mystery, you can start working with an idea central to creativity: combinatorial theory. Basically, one essential element to coming up with new ideas is to combine ideas that haven’t been combined before. (Yes. I know that’s an oversimplification.)
ChatGPT is Great at Producing a LOT of Bad Ideas Very Quickly
Here’s an experiment I tried this weekend. I asked ChatGPT for 20 topics for a blog about creativity. Here’s what it delivered:
Unlocking Your Creative Potential: Exploring Different Approaches
The Power of Imagination: Nurturing Creativity in Daily Life
Embracing Failure: How Mistakes Fuel Creative Growth
Finding Inspiration in Everyday Moments: Cultivating a Creative Mindset
The Role of Play in Creative Expression
Exploring Different Creative Outlets: Painting, Writing, Music, and More
Overcoming Creative Blocks: Strategies to Reignite Your Imagination
The Influence of Environment on Creativity: Creating a Space That Inspires
The Link Between Creativity and Well-being: How Artistic Expression Impacts Mental Health
Collaboration and Creativity: Harnessing the Power of Collective Genius
The Science of Creativity: Understanding the Cognitive Processes Behind Innovation
Exploring Different Types of Creativity: Divergent Thinking, Lateral Thinking, and More
Creativity in the Digital Age: Unleashing Innovation in a Technological World
Creative Problem Solving: Applying Artistic Thinking to Real-world Challenges
Creativity and Entrepreneurship: How to Foster Innovation in Business
The Connection Between Creativity and Productivity: Balancing Inspiration and Execution
Cultural Influences on Creativity: Exploring Artistic Traditions Around the World
The Intersection of Science and Art: How Creativity Drives Scientific Discovery
The Therapeutic Power of Creativity: Art as a Healing Practice
Creativity as a Lifelong Journey: Nurturing and Sustaining Your Creative Spirit
Personally, I think these are pretty awful for the kind of writing I want to do online. There’s not a single topic here that surprises me or that I haven’t read before. There’s nothing specific or human about any of them. The problem is that ChatGTP essentially looks at all the available material related to my query, and then spits back what it calculates as the most predictably relevant to my request. The two daggers in this process? Existing ideas. Predictably relevant. ChatGTP doesn’t create anything new. By definition of its operation, it can’t.
Read what happens when I modify the prompt to 50 topics for a blog about creativity:
The power of imagination: Exploring the creative mind
Finding inspiration in everyday life
The role of creativity in problem-solving
Cultivating creativity through curiosity
Overcoming creative blocks and fostering a creative mindset
The connection between creativity and innovation
Exploring different forms of creative expression
The impact of creativity on mental health and well-being
Nurturing creativity in children and encouraging their imagination
The role of creativity in entrepreneurship and business
How to harness creativity in the workplace
Exploring the creative process: From ideation to execution
Embracing failure and learning from creative setbacks
The influence of culture and environment on creativity
The relationship between creativity and self-discovery
Using creative outlets for personal growth and self-expression
Unleashing creativity through mindfulness and meditation
The connection between creativity and emotional intelligence
Creativity as a form of activism and social change
Examining the connection between creativity and storytelling
The intersection of technology and creativity
Exploring different creative mediums: art, music, writing, etc.
The role of creativity in design and aesthetics
The psychology behind creative thinking
The importance of playfulness in nurturing creativity
Breaking free from creative constraints and thinking outside the box
How to foster a creative community and collaborate with others
Exploring the connection between creativity and intuition
The relationship between creativity and cognitive flexibility
The impact of creativity on personal and professional growth
Examining famous creative minds throughout history
The influence of nature and the outdoors on creativity
Using creativity to solve complex societal issues
The connection between creativity and happiness
Balancing structure and spontaneity in the creative process
Exploring the role of improvisation in creativity
How travel and cultural experiences fuel creativity
The power of constraints in sparking creative ideas
Incorporating mindfulness practices into creative routines
Exploring the relationship between creativity and humor
The connection between creativity and resilience
The impact of social media on creativity and self-expression
The role of music and sound in enhancing creative experiences
Using creative hobbies as a form of self-care
Examining the connection between creativity and divergent thinking
The influence of mentors and role models on creative development
The connection between creativity and problem-solving in STEM fields
Exploring the connection between creativity and spirituality
Overcoming perfectionism and embracing imperfections in the creative process
The future of creativity: Trends and emerging technologies
Remember Your Secret Weapons
I hope you didn’t read them all. I’m not sure what you see, but I see that there’s virtually no difference between the two lists of topics. Why? I offer my two brainstorming essentials from above. ChatGPT doesn’t get exhausted. It would take an unbelievably long list of topics for ChatGPT to run out of ideas that already exist. And there’s no way to ask a tool that processes billions of calculations seemingly instantaneously to go faster than its comfort zone allows.
Sometime soon, you’re asking your students or team to brainstorm a task or even challenge yourself to do so. Remember that speed and exhaustion are still (for now) secret weapons that artificial intelligence can’t touch.
(Photo Credit: “A cubist painting of an automaton sitting at a desk typing on a computer” created by Ryan Trauma via Dall-E: https://bit.ly/46T0miO)
