Emma Steenson
AI strategist and future of work researcher
AI amplifies creativity. It does not create it.
Saw my AI Week talk?
Thanks for watching The Creativity Illusion: Why AI Won't Do It For You. If it raised questions about your own AI programme, I’d like to hear them.
Most AI programmes are judged on adoption rates and time saved.
I look at something else: whether the human conditions for creative thinking are in place.
Where they are, AI amplifies them. Where they aren’t, it exposes the gap.
The Research
Every AI strategy right now is built on the same prediction: remove the repetitive work, and people will naturally use that freed up time to think more creatively, to solve harder problems and deliver better outcomes for the people they serve.I interviewed 12 lawyers as their firms were adopting generative AI, for my MSc in Coaching for Behavioural Change at Henley.What I found:
Freed-up time doesn’t automatically become creative thinking time.
The organisation decides whether it goes into better thinking or a longer to-do list.
Expertise is what makes AI useful.
Experienced people spot bad output, treat it as a draft and keep ownership of the work.
Routine work is where juniors build judgement.
AI is taking it away, and most organisations haven’t put anything in its place.
The Conditions Required To Enable Creativity
Permit creative time. Explicitly encourage freed capacity for deeper thinking.
Rebuild training pathways. Replace administrative learning lost to AI.
Create vicarious learning. Peer networks, communities of practice, knowledge sharing.
Cultivate a growth mindset. Reframe setbacks as learning.
Working with me
I work with senior leaders and L&D teams who want their AI investment to show up in the quality of people’s thinking as well as the speed of their output.
That can be a talk for your leadership team or conference, a workshop that tests your AI programme against the conditions for creativity, or advisory support as you redesign roles and training around AI.
I spent a decade building information systems as a management consultant, before running my own professional services business (exited). More recently trained as an executive coach and completed an MSc in Coaching for Behavioural Change at Henley Business School.
So I look at AI from both sides: the systems organisations put in, and what those systems do to the people using them.
Wondering whether your AI programme is creating space for better thinking, or just more work? Let’s talk it through.
contact
emma@emmasteenson.com
