Abstract:

Creative personality is often considered stable and unique. However, when artificial intelligence (AI) participates in creative tasks, the “digital authority” role of AI may cause automation bias in human use of AI, making it difficult for humans to maintain a leading role in creativity, even with a creative personality. Yet, significant research gaps persist. First, the organizational personality literature is dominated by the classic dispositional view that personality traits are stable. Second, despite calls to promote research on the impact of AI on personality traits, the field lacks theoretical and empirical research. Our knowledge regarding the effects of AI on human creative personality and its underlying mechanisms is notably limited.

Considering the above calls and limitations, this study adopts a developmental perspective on personality to clarify the impact of using AI in creative work on creative personality. Specifically, it encompasses three distinct sub-studies. Study 1 reveals the mechanisms by which the use of AI mediates creative personality. By drawing on the concepts of "I can" and "I should", we examine the negative effects of using AI and automation bias on creative self-efficacy and creative role identity. Study 2 explores the long-term effects of using AI and automation bias on individual creative personality. Furthermore, study 3 investigates the effectiveness of self-leadership, focusing on how individuals defend their innovative subjectivity.

This study makes three primary theoretical contributions. First, this study emphasizes the long-term effects of AI on creative personality. Although the potential influence of using AI on creativity has emerged as a prominent research topic, much of the focus has been on the impact of AI on the creative process, creative outcomes, and creative environment. Studies have shown that using AI can both foster and hinder creativity. Building on this, our research highlights a significant, yet potentially overlooked, drawback of using AI. It contributes to a more nuanced and complete picture of how emerging technologies can shape an individual's creative personality. This study posits that using AI may engender an individual's automation bias, which could disrupt the positive pathways of "I can create” and "I should create", ultimately diminishing individual creative personality. By doing so, we extend the literature on the negative effects of AI on creative personality and remind human beings of their unique roles as primary agents in creative work.

Second, this study introduces self-leadership as an effective strategy for reaffirming humans as the central agents of creativity. Prevailing research often positions AI at the core of creative work, inadvertently obscuring the subjectivity of human beings. This study, however, asserts that although AI has a certain degree of autonomy, human beings remain the essential protagonists in creative work. To this end, this study proposes a strategy of internal control that reinforces the subject position of human creativity, fundamentally shifting from external organizational supervision to self-regulation. By embracing self-leadership, individuals can counteract the tendencies towards "cognitive saving" and social loafing, thereby preventing the degradation of creative personality that arises from using AI. In this way, this study reveals a pathway to counteract the negative effects of AI on creative personality, thereby optimizing the benefits of AI applications on creativity.

Third, this study builds an overall theoretical model that encapsulates the impact of using AI on creative personality, the underlying mechanisms, and potential countermeasures. Prior research has predominantly examined how individuals with different personality traits respond to AI and the compatibility between personality traits and AI. However, there is still limited understanding about how AI affects individual personality traits as AI becomes more integrated into creative work. AI, with its exceptional capabilities, dynamism, and autonomy, stands out as a unique factor affecting creativity. Considering that particularity, there is an urgent need for a thorough and detailed theoretical framework. To this end, the theoretical model of this study encompasses the long-term effects of using AI on creative personality, elucidates the underlying mechanisms, and proposes effective coping strategies.

In summary, our theoretical framework aims to provide scholars with a more comprehensive and profound understanding of how using AI influences individual creative personality, while also offering guidance on how to prevent the erosion of human creativity and avoid becoming subservient to AI.

Key words: AI, creativity, personality, automation bias, self-leadership