A Science-Based Guide to Thinking Creatively—With LLMs
Rhea Purohit
Creativity can be developed like a muscle, and AI tools like LLMs can help enhance this process. Cognitive scientist Margaret Boden offers a structured view of creativity, breaking it down into types such as combinatorial, exploratory, and transformational. By using LLMs, we can shorten feedback loops, explore new ideas, and better articulate our tastes to improve our creative output.
16 Apr 2025
Taste—in books, music, clothing, people—is notoriously hard to define without resorting to a string of examples. I find it hard to put words to the kind of books I like to read, but I can tell you that I enjoy Vladimir Nabokov, David Sedaris, and Jon Krakauer—three wildly different writers. An LLM, however, detected underlying patterns across those choices: a tendency for precise word choice, a mordant wit, and a fascination with the intensity of the human experience.
In doing so, it helps transform taste from something you feel into something you understand. When taste becomes not just something you have, but something you can explain, you’re better equipped to recognize what feels “meaningful”—and to make more intentional creative choices as a result.