Augmented Intelligence and Creative Dialectics: Developing Tools for Enhanced Creativity

Abstract

The creative process can be characterized as a creative dialectic. Creative dialectics can be understood in terms of the development of novel and useful products that emerge through a process of contradiction and synthesis. In this paper, we present and evaluate a pilot prototype for a tool that allows users to navigate this dialectical process in order to enhance their creative process. The development of such a tool also offers a model for AI alignment, eschewing Agentic AI in favor of augmented intelligence; a paradigm that emphasizes collaboration between machine and human in order to generate new ideas and implement them in ways that are relevant to the appropriate context. The prototype is implemented as a node-based ideation system that helps designers to generate, connect, and refine ideas through modular interactions. Key features include a critique mode that embeds systematic frictions into the creative process, a synthesis engine that supports the combination and development of ideas, and a design log that saves and keeps track of users’ reflections and iterative thinking. To evaluate the system, we conducted a workshop-based user study (n=12) in which participants completed an open-ended design task and were evaluated based on their creative process and design outcomes using the system. The findings suggest that the system primarily supports creativity through the development of and reflection on ideas, rather than directly generating novel outputs.

Keywords: Agentic AI, Augmented Intelligence, Creativity, Creative Dialectics, Human-Computer Interaction

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008094