By Vicky Sidler | Published 1 September 2025 at 12:00 GMT+2

If you’ve ever asked ChatGPT to write your business plan, name your next product, and draft your follow-up email—all before lunch—you’re not alone. But here’s the bigger question: can AI actually come up with great ideas? Or are we still the brains of the operation?

According to research published in Organization Science, the answer is somewhere in the middle. Humans bring the spark. AI brings the structure. And when they work together, that’s when the good stuff happens.

Let’s break it down.

TL;DR

• AI is great at generating fast, practical ideas

• Humans come up with more novel, creative solutions

• The best results happen when people and AI collaborate

• Prompting AI properly is a skill worth learning

• Businesses should use AI as a creative partner, not a replacement

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Table of Contents

Why Harvard Wanted to Know If AI Can Solve Big Problems:

When ChatGPT became a thing, it was clear it could write poems, summarise reports, and pretend to be Shakespeare. But could it solve a brand-new business challenge—one that didn’t already have a tidy answer?

That’s what Harvard Business School’s Jacqueline Ng Lane and her research team wanted to find out. Together with Karim Lakhani, Miaomiao Zhang, and others, they tested how AI stacked up against humans when solving creative business problems. Their focus: the circular economy.

That’s the idea that instead of using something once and tossing it, you reuse, repair, or recycle it as part of a closed loop.

Think:

• Renting tools instead of buying

• Turning food waste into fuel

• Designing packaging that pays people to recycle it

Harvard asked two groups—humans and ChatGPT—to come up with ideas. Then they got a third group of expert judges to score each idea on creativity, environmental impact, profitability, and feasibility.

What they found is worth a second look.

Humans—Weird, Wild, and Wonderfully Unfiltered:

Let’s start with Team Human.

Some of the real-life entries were creative bordering on bizarre. One person suggested making interlocking bricks out of plastic waste and foundry dust. Not exactly ready for mass production, but definitely outside the box.

Another idea involved flies that eat trash. Again, not something you’ll pitch to investors tomorrow, but points for originality.

According to the judges, human-generated ideas were more novel and surprising. But—and here’s the catch—many of them weren’t practical. Great ideas, just hard to implement.

And that’s where the robots took over.

AI—Fast, Focused, and Feasibly Boring

Now for Team Machine.

ChatGPT was given the same brief. With carefully crafted prompts, it generated hundreds of ideas—fast. Most of them were solid. Not revolutionary, but realistic.

One standout example: using food waste to create biogas. It’s not a new idea, but it ticks every box. It’s green, profitable, and can be rolled out today with existing tech.

So what was missing?

Surprise. AI didn’t get weird. It didn’t invent anything totally new. But it nailed feasibility. Over and over.

And when you’re running a business—not a science fiction writers’ room—that matters.

Collaboration—The Sweet Spot Where Innovation Lives

The most interesting part of the study wasn’t that humans and AI are different. It’s how good they are together.

The researchers found that when people worked with ChatGPT to iterate ideas—changing prompts, nudging responses, and asking for more variety—the quality of ideas improved dramatically.

For example, simply asking ChatGPT to “generate another idea that’s different from the last one” pushed the model to try new angles. Suddenly, you weren’t just getting versions of the same idea in different wrapping. You were getting range.

This is where smart business owners can shine.

Why Small Businesses Should Pay Attention:

If you’ve written off AI as something for tech bros and coders, take a second look. This study wasn’t about AI replacing you. It was about making your creativity go further.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Use AI to Stretch Your Thinking:

Stuck for marketing ideas? Ask ChatGPT to generate 10. Then ask for 10 more that don’t sound like the first batch. Push it. Change the voice. Shift the industry. You’ll be amazed what comes back.

2. Don’t Expect AI to Do Your Job:

It can’t feel your market. It doesn’t know your customers. But it can be a surprisingly helpful intern if you give it clear instructions and review the output with fresh eyes.

3. Learn to Prompt Like a Pro:

This is where creativity meets craft. The better your questions, the better the answers. Want better ideas? Describe your business. Tell ChatGPT what industry you’re in. Set constraints. Be specific.

If this sounds like effort, that’s because it is. But unlike that intern, AI doesn’t take lunch breaks.

What I Tell My Clients as a StoryBrand and Duct Tape Marketing Guide:

When I work with service businesses, one thing always comes up: clarity.

You don’t need more ideas. You need better ones. And the best way to get those is through a structured creative process.

Use your own insight to define the problem clearly. Then use AI to flood yourself with options. Then apply your judgment to spot the winner.

That’s the formula. That’s what this study confirmed.

Innovation isn’t about choosing between people and machines. It’s about learning how to work together without turning your brand into a robot in the process.

And no, the trash-eating flies don’t need to come back.

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FAQs on AI and Human Creativity in Business

What did the Harvard study actually test?

Researchers asked both humans and ChatGPT to come up with ideas for the circular economy—where products are reused, repaired, or recycled. The ideas were then scored for creativity, feasibility, profit potential, and environmental impact.

Were the human ideas better than the AI ones?

Human ideas were more novel and creative, but often unrealistic. AI-generated ideas were more practical and easier to implement, though less original.

What happens when people and AI work together?

That’s where the magic happens. The best results came from collaborative approaches, where people guided AI with better prompts and built on the results to create stronger solutions.

Can small businesses really use AI for creative work?

Yes. You don’t need to replace your team. Just use AI to brainstorm faster, test new directions, and sharpen your ideas.

What’s the best way to get useful output from AI?

Start with a clear prompt. Be specific about your industry, the goal, and the format you want. Then refine. Ask for multiple versions. Push it to try new angles.

What does “prompt engineering” mean?

It’s just a fancy term for asking better questions. The more clearly you explain what you want, the better the AI performs.

Do I need to worry about originality if I use AI?

Yes. AI pulls from existing data, so it’s not likely to invent something groundbreaking on its own. That’s where your input matters most.

How can I write a clear message without using AI?

Use the5-Minute Marketing Fix. It walks you through a simple formula to write one sharp sentence that captures your value—fast.