A Recent Study on ChatGBT’s Creative Thinking Abilities
A recent study found that ChatGBT, an AI-powered chatbot, can match the top 1% of thinkers.
A study by the University of Montana reveals that researchers used the Torrance Creative Thinking Test (TTCT) with the ChatGPT engine and scored 8 responses. They also collected responses from 24 University of Montana students. These results were compared with 2,700 students across the country who took the test.
The study showed that all responses were recorded by an educational service that was unaware of the AI sending responses.
In fact, GBT chat responses outperformed most students nationwide, according to the study, and AI responses were as creative as those of the most creative real people who took the test.
“The results were unexpected,” said Eric Guzik, study author and clinical assistant professor at the University of Montana College of Business, in an interview with ScienceDaily.com. “For me, creativity means doing things differently… One definition of entrepreneurship that I like is being an entrepreneur who thinks differently. So AI can help us apply creative thinking to business and the innovation process, which is cool.”
New and Surprising Answers
The Torrance Creative Thinking Test (TTCT) consists of two different scores, one verbal and the other graphic. Both measure divergent thinking, or the thought process used to generate creative ideas.
In the oral assessment, subjects are presented with pictures or verbal prompts and are asked to respond in writing. For example, they may be shown a picture of an event and asked to hypothesize about the outcome, or they may be shown a product and asked how to improve it. Their responses are then evaluated. Three mental characteristics are evaluated:
Fluency:
Number of related ideas
Originality:
Unusual ideas
Flexibility:
Variety of different types of ideas
The figurative test requires the subject to identify their answers. For example, they may be asked to complete a picture. In addition to fluency and originality, the figurative test evaluates the following skills:
Development:
Add ideas beyond the minimum requirements
Resistance to premature closure:
The ability to tolerate enough ambiguity to elicit a creative response.
Abstract Titles:
Ability to creatively name a character
In the study, ChatGBT responses had the highest percentage of fluency and originality. Response rates dropped to 97% when it came to flexibility.
“We were all exploring (ChatGPT) and noticed that it does some interesting things that we didn’t expect. Some of the responses were new and unexpected. That’s when we decided to test it to see how creative it really is,” Guzik said. Guzik does not want to overestimate the impact of AI on the economy, but believes that it will become an engine of innovation.
