Think, Generate, Edit (TGE)
A process to enhance creative thought
Intro
With the principles shared in the “Traits of Creative Learners who use AI” (below), I created a simple AI-enhanced process to help others express themselves with AI as a superpower, rather than a replacement for their creativity. This superpower does not help us to be more efficient (a common use of AIs) when we are being creative; it helps us to reach new heights, express ourselves, and to be a partner in expressing ourselves by helping us visualize anything, spark new ideas, remove limitations, and access always available expertise. We truly can generate anything that we can imagine.
The Think, Generate, Edit process (below) has specific verb-based actions that you or your students can use when being creative. The intention is that we begin and end with our own efforts, and in the middle, we collaborate with AI, rather than letting it do the work for us.
General verbs were used in this process so that you can define them for your own creative context. For example, the word “think” could be made more specific by saying, “think creatively by brainstorming a range of possible story ideas.” The second step could be “generate by expanding on one idea, using a text-based AI to explore alternative openings, settings, or tones”, or “edit by curating and refining the strongest pieces, weaving them into a coherent draft that reflects your own vision.”
Unlike some of the other processes in my book, this one follows a fixed sequence: humans first, AI second, humans third. Students begin by defining their task, sketching, or brainstorming ideas before any AI input. Only after that do they bring AI into the mix to expand, test, or challenge what they’ve started. This intentional ordering helps maintain cognitive ownership, encourages persistence, and teaches that creativity is not about outsourcing the hard part but about learning to collaborate thoughtfully with powerful tools.
Think
For the purposes of this process, the word “think” is intentionally vague. I wanted to use a term that could encompass both creative and critical thinking.
Before engaging with AI, we should develop high-quality content that reflects our intent. This might take various forms: crafting an essay that captures our distinctive voice and perspective, composing a song that expresses our musical ideas, or creating a photograph that demonstrates our understanding of lighting, composition, color, and visual storytelling. It could even be in the form of a well-thought-out prompt. Whatever the thinking might be, it serves as the foundation for the AI interactions in Step 2.
I would not recommend using AI at this stage. As an educator, I would like to see students put in effort on their own before turning to AI for ideas. However, there are some additional considerations worth sharing for this stage. Daniel Kahneman talks about conditions for creativity in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow. To encourage creativity, being calm, alert, comfortable, safe, relaxed, are all ways to induce creative thought. Consider how you might set the stage for creativity for yourself or your students to coax creative thought out.
Thinking with AI could look like creating a pencil sketch, a song, a prompt, having a chat, a photograph you took, a whiteboard mind map, and so much more. With multi-modal AI models, we can input just about anything that expresses our thoughts.
Generate
Output involves an iterative dialogue with AI tools. Through careful prompting, refinement of inputs, experimentation with different AI models, and continuous adjustment, we work toward obtaining results that complement and enhance our creative vision or intent. This stage requires patience and strategic interaction to achieve the desired outcome. Furthermore, you are engaging in both creative and critical thinking throughout this step: what did you create? Does it meet your needs? If not, how can you adjust and do it again to get precisely what you want to express your vision?
There are so many ways AI can be used at this stage in the thinking process. Because of that, I have included extra examples in this chapter to express the wide variety of ways we can be creative with AIs (rather than creativity being done by AIs for us).
As mentioned earlier, when we have AI as a part of the creative process, our goal is not to save time. Instead, we are taking the time to collaborate with AI and engage in meaningful conversations. If students begin to focus on time-saving, it may indicate that their thinking lacks the depth necessary for true creativity, and instead be more focused on task completion. In other words, as educators, we should encourage students to slow down, explore many options, and avoid rushing the process.
Edit
This step is crucial because it’s where we critically examine AI output and make it our own. Through human judgment, expertise, and creativity, we transform what the AI generates into something that aligns with our original intent.
Although it appears as the third step, editing is rarely the end of the process. Creative work is iterative, and we often move back and forth between thinking, generating, and editing as ideas evolve.
At this stage, I intentionally recommend stepping away from AI. Editing is our opportunity to slow down, apply analytical and creative thinking, and ensure the final work reflects a distinctly human voice.