Teaching Creativity in the Age of AI Isn’t Really About AI

What defines creativity in a world of synthetic outputs?

SUMMARY
Across four immersive weeks, this course encourages learners into explore the psychological foundations of human creativity and understand key theories (from humanistic and cognitive psychology to ground creative expression) in a human-centered framework, independent of technology.

DEVELOPED IN 2026

The Cyberpsychology of AI & Creativity course — exclusively developed by our founder, Mayra Ruiz-McPherson — offers learners an exciting yet polar opposite area of focus:

the psychological foundations of human creativity in the context of today’s AI era.

“Why is the psychological foundation of human creativity important?” you might be asking.

The answer is this:

Discussions about ‘creativity’ (or ‘art’) in the AI era tend to emphasize angry artists on social media protesting the theft of their artwork by AI companies or improved generative art capabilities of this or that AI model.

While those are real-world happenings, the bigger point is that we almost never hear about how human creativity is being re-defined, re-imagined, and experienced by us humans in the face of increasingly pervasive AI.

so no, this course is *not* about a specific ai tool; nor is it about FANCY AI FEATURES.

And while AI technology, and its impressive “artistic” capabilities, are related to this course’s curriculum, they are NOT “center stage,” if you will.

Learners will instead spend their learning time exploring thought-provoking questions like: 

• What defines creativity in a world of synthetic outputs?
• Can machines truly co-create, or are they mimicking us?
• Who owns creative labor in the age of algorithms?

Discussing those questions requires students to explore psychological and philosophical grounding in human creativity and imagination.

Students will also:

• journey through the aesthetic, ethical, and labor dimensions of AI’s impact on the creative process
• analyze the concept of “synthetic creativity” and how generative AI simulates creative processes
• participate in hands-on exercise(s) that introduce constructs and key concepts, e.g. cognitive creative distribution and more

Interested?

Learn more about The Cyberpsychology of AI & Creativity at the School of Radical Imagination.

Our second cohort starts this Fall 2026 (registration opens soon)

Excited to see you there!

Mayra Ruiz-McPherson, PhD(c), MA, MFA
Executive Director & Founder
The CyberPsych Institute

Empowering Minds for the AI Age