INFLUENCE OF IMAGE STIMULI ON DESIGN CREATIVITY: EXPLORATION OF GENERATIVE AI IN GROUP IDEATION

With the rapid advancement of AI in design, researchers have proposed that generative AI can enhance human creativity in design, particularly through AI-generated images as stimuli. To explore this, we conducted an exercise in a creative design course. The exercise began with an introduction to creative methods, followed by group ideation using a collaborative sketching method. Each participant then received an AI-generated image stimulus tailored to the design task. Finally, participants developed their best ideas and reflected on the process. The reflections were analyzed alongside evaluations of the final ideas by external evaluators, who assessed the novelty and usefulness of the 18 best ideas and determined their sources of inspiration: group collaboration, the AI-generated image, both, or neither. Results revealed that participants generally viewed the AI-generated image stimuli as unhelpful or irrelevant for ideation. Evaluators found that group collaboration significantly contributed to the best ideas, while AI-generated stimuli played a minimal role. These findings underscore the critical role of human interaction in collaborative ideation and suggest that AI tools, while promising, require further refinement to support creativity in group settings effectively.