How to use AI to be more creative

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Topic: AI
For: Both B2C and B2B
Research date: June 2026
Universities: University of St. Gallen, University of Lausanne

📈 Recommendation

Use AI to help you develop your ideas (e.g. a new product, an ad creative):

• If your idea is mature (e.g. you know the storyline of your ad), ask AI to describe the final output in text

• If your idea is still vague, ask AI to visualize it in an image

AI will help you be even more creative with your idea.

🎓 Findings

• Scientists found that when people used AI to refine ideas, their ideas were rated (by AI and human raters):

  • Overall 30% more creative (vs no AI use at all)

  • 18% more creative when ideas were mature and AI refined them through textual descriptions (vs images) 

  • More creative when ideas were vague, and AI helped visualize them by creating an image

🧠 Why it works

• Images make us feel like an idea is complete and final, so we don’t think too much about refining it.

• However, when we read text, we have to use our imagination to fill in the gaps.

• This makes us think more creatively.

✋ Limitations

• Experts (e.g. creative directors) might be equally creative when using AI as a visual or text-based tool, regardless of the maturity stage of the idea.

• Scientists only tested creativity, we don’t know if that relates to higher quality ideas and results (e.g. sales).

👀 Real-life example

VizualizeAI lets people reimagine rooms in a few clicks.

❌ Issue: They ask people to select styles but have no step where they refine ideas.

✅ Solution:

• Ask questions and provide textual feedback before the final output.

• Create different user journeys for early-stage and mature ideas.

• Recommend designers to let people know the AI was used as part of a more complex brainstorming exercise, and not laziness as people might think.

• Add a disclaimer advising designers to avoid making the use of AI the core value proposition.

📖 Research

Gordetzki, P., Blohm, I., Clegg, M., Schakols, & F., Hofstetter, R. Agency Configurations in Generative AI Ideation: How Textual and Visual Idea Concretizations Shape Idea Creativity and Ideator Effort. Information Systems Research  (June 2026) 

Remember: This is a new scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s how science works). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely.

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