Impact of Generative AI on Creativity

Impact of Generative AI on Creativity

Participants : Olha Sobetska (Centre Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Nadia M. Ady (Aalto University) and Vera van der Burg (TU Delft, Designing Intelligence Lab)

an online expert panel by Generative Arts and Design Lab, Mert Akbal (HBKsaar)

15 July 2026, 10:00 (CEST), online, 60 minutes

How does generative AI change creativity?

This one-hour panel approaches the question through three concepts, each a different aspect of creative thinking.

Curiosity is the engine that opens a line of thought and pulls you along it, question by question: the directed desire to find out something you have only just realised you don't know.

Irrationality is the generative ground from which the new emerges: that non-linear, context-sensitive thinking which may look illogical by classical standards, yet is genuinely creative within its own context.

Reflective AI, finally, is the feedback that returns a result not as a finished product but as a fresh open question, treating AI as a material for reflection rather than a mere tool for production.

All three panelists have already made distinctive, significant contributions to the study of creativity and AI through their research. Olha Sobetska (Centre Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) researches the emergence and form of creative insight. Nadia M. Ady (Aalto University) investigates the translation of psychological constructs into AI systems, focusing on creativity and intrinsic motivation like curiosity. Vera van der Burg (TU Delft, Designing Intelligence Lab) works on reflective AI, slow technology, and engaging with AI as a material rather than a tool.

Starting from definitions of creativity drawn from their research, the conversation then widens to the question of what implications these definitions hold for the way we work, and ultimately for the development of new socio-technological systems.

About the host

The panel is hosted by the Generative Arts and Design Lab, a research initiative by Mert Akbal, Hannes Käfer, Michael Schmitz and Soenke Zehle at the Experimental Media Lab of the HBKsaar, which offers both know-how and infrastructure to experiment and prototype with generative AI systems.

The panel results are also a contribution to HAMLET, Human-centered generative Ai fraMework for culturaL industriEs’ digital Transition

https://hamlet-project.eu/ Funded by the European Union [GA 101178362]

(Video Thumbnail Image: Vera van der Burg Photo by Marica de Michele)