Abstract

This article examines whether artificial intelligence (ai) can be creative and defends a deflationaryaccount of creativity. It argues that this capacity can indeed be extended to machines, thoughnot in the same sense as in humans, because machines lack intentionality, semantic understanding,and evaluative judgment. To build the account, this paper adopts an integrative methodology thatcombines conceptual analysis, a contrastive strategy, and rigorous argumentation. This methodologyis first applied to a review of the main conceptions of ai and subsequently to an analysis ofMargaret Boden’s theory of creativity, which distinguishes between combinational, exploratory, andtransformational creativity. Building on this distinction, this article argues that ai systems—includinglarge language models such as Chatgpt or image generators such as Sims—can operate across allthree forms. They combine information in novel ways, explore spaces of possibility defined by rules,and, in some cases, transform the conceptual frameworks within which they function. Accordingly,this paper proposes a distinction between human and artificial creativity. The former is grounded inintentionality and agency, whereas the latter rests on the production of novel, valuable, and surprisingoutcomes, despite the absence of intentionality.