Almost 70 % of Germans are fascinated by AI creativity, 92 % demand transparency

The SYZYGY GROUP survey “Imagine” shows that the use of AI will lead to a significant boost in creativity – both in everyday life and in companies. A large proportion of respondents (78 %) even go so far as to say that AI will eventually surpass humans in terms of their creative abilities.

It shows that people are very curious and open to this machine creativity and would like to experiment with it. One in four of those surveyed could even imagine generating a digital clone of themselves to live on digitally after death. At the same time, however, there is concern about possible misuse and the desire for responsible handling and transparency.

Key findings of the Imagine survey:

 1. Machine creativity and its perception

• 78 % of Germans believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually surpass humans in creative abilities. 10 % believe that this has already happened.
• 49 % of Germans are interested in using generative AI tools to increase their own creativity. And 68 % believe they will help people become more creative. 67 % believe that they will make companies more creative.
• 78% presume that their favourite brand is already using AI to automate creative tasks in the company. 42% would prefer their favourite brand to use AI instead of humans for creative marketing tasks if it would reduce the brand’s carbon footprint.
• For a total of 69% of Germans, positive feelings about AI-based creativity predominate (of which: interested 32%, surprised 11%, inspired 11%, excited 10%, happy 2% and joyful 3%).
• According to the respondents, artificial intelligence has already triggered significant changes. Only 8 % were able to correctly identify an AI-generated photo in the survey. In blind tests, 57 % of Germans prefer AI-generated art and design to human-created art and design.
• 25% would be interested in using generative AI, creating a digital clone of themselves so that relatives can interact with them after their death.

2. Concern and the desire for transparency

• 92 % of respondents believe that people should have the right to know whether the content they use and consume has been created or modified by artificial intelligence.
• 73 % would support a law that would prohibit artificial intelligence from disguising AI identity and impersonating a real human.
• 87% of respondents are concerned that companies could use GenAI to produce content that misleads or manipulates people.

“This study shows that Germans are excited about a world where human creativity is enhanced and complemented by machine creativity. Psychologically, ‘generative AI’ seems to align well with the German engineering mentality, welcoming the concept of this technology as a ‘creative machine’”, says consumer psychologist Prof. Dr. Paul Marsden from the University of the Arts London, who conducted the survey. “Consumers are giving the green light to companies and their brands to use artificial intelligence in advertising and sales, for example.”

“I think we’re in the biggest upheaval in our industry since the launch of the iPhone. GenAI tools will redefine creativity and make us better. So it was important for us to find out how people look at machine creative and its content. Transparency is the key.  A “Created with GenAI” label creates a real opportunity to maintain people’s great openness to generative creativity”, says Franziska von Lewinski, CEO of SYZYGY GROUP.

SYZYGY GROUP commissioned the representative survey (1,104 respondents; 18 to 77 years) from Prof. Dr. Paul Marsden (University of Arts London). Detailed survey results can be found in the Digital Insight Report “Imagine” at www.syzygy-group.net/imagine.