Dr. Deborah Mateja receives the “Future of Work” Science Award

In her dissertation written at the University of Mannheim, “Creativity and Artificial Intelligence: Conceptual Foundations, Design, and Use,” Deborah Mateja examines how people use novel generative AI systems such as ChatGPT to tackle creative tasks and how collaboration between humans and AI affects the richness of ideas, originality, and quality. The dissertation therefore makes an important contribution to a better understanding of co-creative processes in an increasingly digital world of work.

The dissertation shows that AI can provide independent impulses for idea generation, but that its strengths are only fully realized in combination with human goals, contextualization, and evaluation. At the same time, it illustrates how AI can make creative activities more broadly accessible. Building on these findings, the work formulates evidence-based guidelines for designing human–AI collaboration in an effective and responsible way.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Deborah Mateja on this well-deserved award!