Staring at a blank page at the start of a project can be uncomfortable. But according to the latest research from the Teamwork Lab, that struggle is an important part of the creative process.
The Lab ran two controlled experiments to test this out. In the first, we recruited 797 knowledge workers and challenged them to brainstorm under one of several conditions:
- Brainstorming on their own, without using AI
- Using AI to come up with new ideas
- Reviewing a list of a colleague’s ideas before brainstorming solo
For the second, we recruited 15 Atlassian human resources business partners (HRBPs) to complete two 20-minute brainstorming sessions – one where humans brainstormed first, and then another using AI throughout.
What we found
While AI might give teams an early edge in terms of breadth and quantity, taking out the struggle resulted in less ownership and less pride in the results.
Participants also consistently overestimated the creativity of their AI brainstorming sessions. Increased volume does not necessarily correlate with more novel or more viable ideas.
And perhaps most interesting for this community, peak creativity came from cross-pollinating with teammates. Workers who reviewed a colleague’s ideas before brainstorming on their own (with and without AI) outperformed everyone.
👉️ Read the full research.
When do your teams introduce AI into the brainstorming process? Let us know in the comments!
