Leveraging psychedelic neuroscience to boost human creativity using artificial intelligence

Psychedelics, such as LSD and psilocybin, disrupt entrenched cognitive patterns by facilitating novel insights and new associations. This paper considers how AI can potentially mimic these psychedelic-induced cognitive disruptions to augment and enhance human creativity. Psychedelics likely enhance creativity by altering brain function, notably the activity of the Default Mode Network, which leads to changes in cognition. Psychologically, they may reduce latent inhibition, increase divergent thinking, and promote implicit learning. Similarly, AI systems can replicate these creative enhancements by introducing novel associations, reframing familiar information, and facilitating unconscious cognitive shifts. The risks associated with AI use are also compared to psychedelics, including dependency, ethical concerns, and homogenization of outputs due to bias. Integrating the cognitive mechanisms activated by psychedelics into AI design provides promising pathways for creativity enhancement. Carefully designed AI could act as a cognitive catalyst, fostering innovative thought processes and adaptive problem-solving while addressing identified ethical and practical concerns.

Brian M. Ross