Discover the 6 hidden stages of how AI slowly kills creativity without you even realizing it. A must-read for every creator.
There was a time when I used to sit for hours, staring at a blank screen, trying to come up with blog content. Was it frustrating? Absolutely. Was I lost? Definitely. But here’s the thing, that struggle? At least it was mine.
Today, things are different.
Now I type ten words, hit “Enter,” and an entire list of ideas magically appears on my screen. It’s fast, it’s convenient, but if I’m being honest, it doesn’t feel creative at all.
Let’s go back to the definition of creativity – “The ability to use imagination to generate new ideas.” And if AI is designed to eliminate the struggle of imagination, then what happens to creativity?
The truth is, AI doesn’t kill your creativity in one big explosion. It’s a slow, 6-stage process that chips away at it, piece by piece, until one day you realize: you’re not the creator anymore. You’re just the instructor.
Stage 1: Curiosity Disguised As Convenience
It all starts with curiosity hiding behind the mask of convenience.
I first heard about ChatGPT through a YouTube video. It showed how you could write a simple prompt and get entire articles written in seconds. As a blogger, that sounded like a dream, so I gave it a try.
I entered a blog title into ChatGPT, hit Enter, and within seconds, I had a full-length post in front of me. Something that would’ve taken me hours to write.
And just like that, I was hooked.
I didn’t need to brainstorm anymore. I didn’t need to write. And as for creativity? I thought I was still being creative. After all, I was still giving it instructions, right?
Wrong.
I had stopped using my own brain to explore ideas. I was no longer creating. I was just asking. That’s when things began to shift.
Stage 2: Inspiration Gets Outsourced
Earlier, ideas came from conversations, books, random observations, or even boredom. Now? They come from a chatbot.
And when you start relying on AI for every idea, big or small, you stop feeling truly inspired. Why bother with inspiration when a prompt can give you 50 options in seconds?
The problem? When you outsource your inspiration, you also outsource your ownership. It’s no longer your idea. It came from a machine. And slowly, you begin to question your own creative instincts.
Even when you do come up with something on your own, you second-guess it. Unless it came from a text prompt, it doesn’t feel good enough.
Stage 3: Repetition Masquerades As Efficiency
This is where the cycle starts to feel productive. You’ve built templates. You’ve got routines. You’re generating content faster than ever.
But is that really growth?
Let me give you an example. When I started my YouTube channel, I used to write every script using ChatGPT. I even created a prompt template. I’d just paste in the video title and a short description, and the script was ready.
Sounds efficient, right?
Yes, but every script had the same structure, same tone, same pacing. Great for brand consistency. Terrible for creative growth.
Creativity thrives on experimentation. It grows in the unknown. But when everything becomes repetitive, even if it’s efficient, you become replaceable.
Stage 4: You Forget The Process
This is where you stop being a creator and start being a user.
Real creativity is a process, identifying problems, researching, brainstorming, iterating, failing, and finally arriving at something original. But when you rely on AI, you skip all of that.
You jump straight to the output.
It’s like teleporting from point A to point B. Sure, it’s faster. But you miss all the beauty of the journey, the unexpected detours, the lessons, the discoveries.
Humans create. AI generates. And when you skip the process, doubt starts creeping in.
Stage 5: Doubt Creeps In
Every time you put an AI-generated idea above your own, every time you believe that AI knows better, you’re training your brain to not trust itself.
That’s dangerous.
Even though I stopped using ChatGPT to write my video scripts, I still find myself going back to it for reassurance. For validation. That self-doubt makes me feel like I need AI to be confident in my own ideas.
And if you’re at this stage too, where you can’t trust yourself anymore, then I hate to break it to you, but there’s no easy way back.
Stage 6: Creative Paralysis
This is the final stage.
You’re still creating. You’re still posting. You’re still getting likes and client work. But deep inside, you know, it’s not your work anymore. You’ve forgotten what it feels like to truly create something original.
You’re addicted. Not to creativity, but to outputs.
You can’t even start a project without consulting AI first. You feel blocked without it. And no, it’s not AI’s fault. It never was.
You gave it away. Bit by bit.
In the pursuit of efficiency, speed, and perfection, you killed the most beautiful part of yourself: YOUR CREATIVITY.
So What’s The Solution?
Should we stop using AI completely?
Absolutely not.
AI is a powerful tool, just like a camera, or a pen, or a brush. But like any tool, its power depends on the person using it.
You can use AI to enhance your creativity. Or you can depend on it so much that you end up choking it.
The choice is yours.
Just remember, your imperfections, your weird ideas, your failed experiments, those are what make your work uniquely yours. Not the output. Not the polish. Not the perfection.
So don’t lose that.
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