creativity
3 published articles
Picbreeder revived with VLM agents
When AI agents rebuilt the internet's most creative experiment, they hit a wall humans never see
Sakana AI, MIT and NYU recreated Picbreeder with VLM agents to study open-ended creativity. The agents became trapped in repeating motifs, unable to make the conceptual leaps humans manage. Diverse personalities helped, but the gap between artificial and human creativity remains unexplained.
2026-07-19
Machine Learning Theory
Google just proved why diffusion models invent, not just copy
Google researchers reveal that the creativity of diffusion models stems from a 'score smoothing' effect caused by neural network regularization. This theoretical framework explains why models interpolate between training data points rather than merely memorizing them, opening the path for controlled novelty in generative AI.
2026-07-16
Editorial craft
The inner critic isn't your enemy. It's a timer you forgot to set.
Self-doubt doesn't vanish. But you can manage it by putting the inner editor on a timer, lowering the stakes, and learning to write through the noise. That's the real craft.
2026-07-07