Creativity, Artificial Intelligence and (Neo-)Romantic Implicit Religion

Background: The relationship between creativity and generative artificial intelligence (AI) is often reduced to whether a technical system can be creative or how it will transform creative industries. The study is based on the concept of implicit religion, which applies to the relationship between generative artificial intelligence and humans.Objective: The study identifies two narratives that can be used to explain the relationship between humans and technology in the theoretical field of implicit religion: (Neo-)Romanticism and Enlightenment. (Neo-)Romanticism, emphasising the value of creativity in the process rather than the outcome, can be seen as a form of implicit religion. In contrast, the Enlightenment discourse focuses on traditional AI literacy themes such as understanding the principles of use, knowledge of tools, or the ability to evaluate individual applications in social and ethical practice critically.Methods: The study uniquely combines small-scale research, which involves in-depth qualitative analysis of a small group of participants, in this case, college students, who provide reflective data from their classroom experiences and creative journals. This is complemented by a theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of implicit religion as it relates to technology. This approach allows a comprehensive exploration of the topic.Results: The results of the qualitative research show that among the students there is a part of those inclined to the (Neo-)Romantic conception of the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. This often manifests in rejecting technology, emphasising traditional art, creativity, and the educational process. The results show that reflecting this perspective, strongly connected to emotions and values, in the education process and in complementing conventional AI literacy concepts is necessary.Conclusion: The study shows that transformation of the economy and society is not just a technical or economic phenomenon but will require a more profound philosophical and cultural reflection that will allow us to leave the binary oppositional relationship between Enlightenment and (Neo-)Romanticism.