Collaborating with GenAI: A blessing or a curse for creativity?

Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are increasingly shifting creative work from individual creation toward human-AI collaboration. Drawing on evidence from various creative domains, such as writing, design, and product ideation, this review highlights the gains and constraints of collaborating with GenAI, distinguishing between outcome-related and process-related effects. While GenAI can increase the number of ideas, enhance idea quality, accelerate idea generation, and reduce cognitive load, it may also lead to idea homogenization, diminished perceptions of authenticity and ownership, reduced independent creative engagement, and weakened team collaboration. To clarify when GenAI supports rather than hinders creativity, this review identifies four key moderating factors: 1) when GenAI is used (i.e., timing of GenAI involvement), 2) how it is used (i.e., interaction design), 3) what it is used for (i.e., task characteristics), and 4) by whom it is used (i.e., user expertise). The findings highlight the need for future research on how to better structure human-AI collaboration to support both creative performance and the development of human creative capabilities.