Blurred boundaries: is GenAI enhancing creativity or stealing ideas?
I’ve always believed that you have to get your hands dirty to understand the inner workings of a tool, or a process. Theoretical concepts are fine, but they pale in comparison to what you learn when you’re in the engine room. I'm talking GenAI where I've found the tools useful, powerful and worrying.
AIEDUCATION AND TRAINING
Tim Clements
1/20/20254 min read


Generative AI (GenAI) is being talked about as the ultimate tool for innovation, boosting creativity, speeding up workflows, and reshaping industries. As GenAI itself, may say, it's a 'game-changer' for many. But is it tool that brings value to you, and/or your company, or just a clever mimic stealing ideas from its training data?
The ethical and legal challenges of GenAI touch everything from intellectual property to brand integrity, and as companies adopt these tools, there's a lot of balancing that needs to be done.
Creativity or copycat?
GenAI doesn’t create in the traditional sense, it predicts. By analysing patterns from its training data, it generates outputs that resemble the information it’s been fed. That supposedly highly original logo design you've just approved? It's just a remix of countless logos it has encountered. That catchy slogan you just shared on LInkedin? All it is, is a blend of phrases it has absorbed.
The blurred boundary lies here: while AI outputs may feel innovative, they’re building on existing works and the sweat and toil of the people who created them originally. Does that make them a form of creativity, or a repackaging of what’s already out there?
My AI learning curve
When AI for Marketers was launched a few months ago by 42courses, I signed up immediately. Having discovered 42courses at Nudgestock during the pandemic, I became a big fan and even purchased their "free for life" membership last year. For anyone wanting to get inside the minds of their digital marketing team, or dive deep into behavioural economics, I can’t recommend Chris Rawlinson's company enough.
I also joined the AI Academy, run by by my mate James Varnham and their excellent team of AI specialists. Their hands-on approach, teaching how companies use AI, automate processes, and apply tools, has been invaluable. If you’re curious about the real-world applications of AI, I highly recommend their courses.
And then there are all the free courses that are also extremely good, the ones from SAP and IBM stand out.
All this reaffirmed something I’ve always believed in: you have to get your hands dirty. Theoretical concepts are fine, but they pale in comparison to what you learn when you’re in the trenches.
I have created many custom GPTs that I find very useful in different contexts, use Perplexity for a lot of my searches, and enjoy messing around in Midjourney sprucing up my own photos, especially those from my old negative archives from the early 80s.
The ethical minefield: who owns the output?
GenAI’s creative mimicry does raise serious ethical concerns. Most models are trained on datasets scraped from the internet, often without any legal basis. This means that:
Artists may find their unique styles replicated by GenAI without credit or compensation.
Proprietary content from one company could unintentionally influence outputs delivered to competitors.
So who owns AI-generated content?
The developers who built the AI?
The user who entered the prompt?
The creators whose work unknowingly influenced the output?
This lack of clarity leaves companies exposed to risks like copyright infringement and reputational damage.
But, as I discovered on the AI for Marketers course, many agencies in the UK have created their own GPTs, fed with own IP, that they use as knowledge bases. This means they are less exposed to knowledge drain, and can bring new employees up to speed easier and quicker.
Creativity versus automation
Supporters of GenAI argue that it democratises creativity, empowering those without formal design or writing skills to express themselves. It also saves time, automating repetitive tasks so creators can focus on higher-value work. But what about the downsides:
Devaluation of human creativity: if GenAI becomes the default tool for creative work, will it erode the need for human ingenuity and will our imaginations deminish?
Over-reliance on AI: companies might prioritise speed and cost-efficiency over originality, producing work that feels mechanical and standard.
What companies can do
For companies embracing GenAI, ethical and strategic considerations are non-negotiable. Here are a few suggestion to help navigate the blurred boundaries:
Educate your teams: encourage hands-on learning to understand the strengths and limitations of the tools. As I mentioned above, courses like AI for Marketers or the AI Academy are a good starting point.
Choose ethical AI tools: work with tool vendors that prioritise consent in their training datasets to avoid potential legal and ethical pitfalls.
Update your company's internal policies: define clear guidelines for how GenAI should be used within your company, from intellectual property considerations to brand alignment. Then make your policies living and breathing by using one of Purpose and Means' Interactive Policy Packs.
Stay yourself updated not just on the tech, but on laws and regulations: the legal environment around GenAI is also moving quickly. Companies must monitor changes to stay compliant, and reduce risk. Consider taking a look at our Horizon Scanning and Analysis offering.
When GenAI works and when It doesn’t
Imagine your marketing team using GenAI to brainstorm ideas for a product launch. The tool generates loads of catchy slogans, providing inspiration and saving hours of work. But what if one of those slogans closely resembles a competitor’s tagline? Or what if it subtly mirrors copyrighted material?
Of course, these types of issues are not unique to the use of GenAI. I remember working for a global company years ago, top 3 globally in its sector, they re-branded with some smart slogans and were then immediately accused of re-hashing one of their competitors slogans from decades earlier!
The benefits and opportunities of GenAI are undeniable, but without oversight, the risks can outweigh them.
Where do we draw the line?
As I’ve learned through hands-on journey, the best approach to GenAI is one that balances opportunity with responsibility. Theoretical debates are useful, but the real insights come when you actively engage with the tools, experiment, and uncover both their potential and their pitfalls.
Generative AI doesn’t think, it predicts. It doesn’t innovate, it mimics. Whether it enhances creativity or steals it depends on how we use it, what boundaries we set, and how much oversight we apply.
Purpose and Means
Helping compliance leaders turn digital complexity into clear, actionable strategies
BaseD in Copenhagen, OPerating Globally
tc@purposeandmeans.io
+45 6113 6106
© 2025. All rights reserved.