By: R.J. Melby

As I helped check in a customer for their tire change appointment, I observed them checking their phone. They were creating computer generated images and texts for what looked to be a children’s book. As a writer, I was horrified at the idea. It left a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the day.

Many others fear for the state of the human mind now that AI has begun to seep into every conceivable art form. From generative image and text to searching for information, there’s anxiety that people will lose the capacity for creative thinking. This is fueled by images of mental acquiescence—people becoming slaves of the machine, giving up their creative faculties in favor of scrolling and instant gratification. Many science fiction authors have been more optimistic about the usage of technology, with Isaac Asimov’s Robot stories, for instance.

Others, like in Frank Herbert’s Dune, see it as giving up the soul of humanity. In speaking to some younger college students, I was shocked to hear the unashamed admittance that they depended on Ai tools like ChatGPT to do their assignments. “I already know the material,” they argued. “So why waste my time?”

AI is in everything. It analyzes our online foot traffic, thus evaluating and disseminating whatever ads and entertainment it views is most relevant to us. But this is far from a free exchange of ideas. If one focuses on only one perspective, they are bound to drill themselves into a narrow hole, right? Like many, I am skeptical about how AI can be beneficial to human creative thinking.

There is some hope. According to a study by Jia, Luo, Fang, and Liao on how artificial intelligence implemented in the workspace affected business workers, they found that, according to interviews and quantitative data, workers felt a boost in creativity. This is thanks to AI screening out more unskilled and time-consuming and work while leaving important decisions to workers. “AI does not suffer from a potential decline in productivity because of boredom and fatigue when performing lead generation—which is standardized, scripted, and repetitive work—so it is less likely to generate negative spillovers to human employees handling subsequent sales persuasion” (Jia et al 2024). Another 2025 meta-analysis
study by Hu, Pang, and Xing on AI’s effect on students also yielded surprisingly optimistic results. “Compared to traditional or non-AI tools, Generative AI-supported teaching activities had a moderately positive effect on improving student learning outcomes, with an overall effect size of 0.572”.

Now, is AI inherently bad? No. Still, I admit that it scares me. Like any new technology, there’s the potential for abuse. AI generated art, for example, is still problematic for working artists. But it would seem there is a chance that AI, when used in addition to human problem-solving, can indeed prove beneficial.

Only time will tell where AI will take us.

References provided by R.J. Melby
De-Xin Hu, Dan-Dan Pang, & Zhe Xing. (2025). Evaluating the effects of Generative AI on
student learning outcomes: Insights from a meta-analysis. Educational Technology &
Society, 28(3), 226–240. https://doi-org.mtrproxy.mnpals.net/10.30191/ETS.202507_28(3).TP02

Jia, N., Luo, X., Fang, Z., & Liao, C. (2024). When and How Artificial Intelligence Augments
Employee Creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 67(1), 5–32. https://doi-
org.mtrproxy.mnpals.net/10.5465/amj.2022.0426