A large-scale study from the University of Montreal tested advanced generative AI against more than 100,000 people using the Divergent Association Task.
Models such as GPT-4 outperformed the average human in generating original word associations, marking a major milestone in machine creativity. However, they fell short of the top 10% of highly imaginative individuals—especially in complex domains like poetry and storytelling.
The results suggest that while AI is becoming a powerful creative assistant, peak human innovation remains unmatched.
This episode includes AI-generated content.