Impact of generative artificial intelligence on the creativity of developers

Initial studies suggest that the use of AI has an impact on the creativity of individuals and teams in organisations. To analyse this phenomenon, we examine the impact of the use of generative AI on the creativity of developers who have widely adopted it since 2021. Our results indicate a very broad use of AI to support development activities beyond code generation. We identify two modes of developer-AI relationships: AI as developer assistant and AI as developer companion, which have different implications for creativity as well as for learning and unlearning.