The missing manual for thinking with AI instead of just prompting it.
You know you're using AI like a vending machine—push button, get output, rinse, repeat. Creative Intelligence shows you how to collaborate with AI to create work that's distinctively yours, not generically professional.
The smartest professionals I know have a problem. They're using AI daily but getting results they can't trust. Their AI-enhanced work sounds like everyone else's. They spend more time validating AI outputs than creating them. They know there's more potential, but they're stuck in "vending machine mode"—insert prompt, extract answer, move on.
Meanwhile, the conversation stays trapped between bad sci-fi fever dreams and tactical bro tutorials for modern parlor tricks. What's missing is the middle ground—where AI stops being a productivity hack and starts being what it actually is: a tool that can amplify the one thing it can never replace—our creativity, ingenuity, and empathy. I couldn't find a book about how to actually think with this technology instead of just prompting it.
So I wrote it.
Here's what I discovered while writing this book: there's a fundamental difference between prompting AI and thinking with it.
Prompting gets you generic outputs because you're following patterns and optimizing what already exists. Thinking with AI means collaborating to amplify your creativity, ingenuity, and empathy - creating work that's distinctively yours.
In this book, you'll learn:
Learn to think with AI—not just prompt it
- Recognize when you're in a cognitive revolution (so you can ride it instead of getting left behind)
- Catch yourself using AI like a vending machine—and fix it on the spot
- Turn shallow AI exchanges into deep thinking partnerships
- Switch between expanding ideas and focusing them (instead of getting stuck in endless brainstorming)
- Guide AI through five distinct thinking modes that match what you actually need
- Design AI conversations that work with your brain, not for it
Apply this learning to work that matters
- Identify weak signals your competitors haven't noticed yet
- Push past the same tired ideas you keep recycling
- Process information without drowning in AI-generated noise
- Spot your own biases before they wreck important decisions
- Run proven strategic frameworks at machine speed
Actually get good at this, instead of staying stuck
- Go from awkward AI experiments to natural collaboration (without thinking about it)
- Notice when you're becoming too dependent on AI—and course-correct before it's too late
- Catch AI when it's confidently bullshitting you (and know what to do about it)
- Recognize your own thinking patterns in real-time (so you can improve them)
- Build AI skills that make you more valuable as the technology gets better
What's Inside...
Part I: The Cognitive Revolution
Understanding why this time is different and how to stop thinking like an algorithm
Part II: The Two Essential Thinking Modes
Mastering divergent and convergent thinking with AI as your collaborator
Part III: Strategic Applications
Real-world frameworks for strategy, creativity, decision-making, and learning
Part IV: Building Mastery
Systematic skill development that compounds over time
What This Book Isn't:
- Not another productivity guide
- Not a collection of prompt hacks
- Not "10 ways to 10x your output with AI"
What It Is:
- A guide to developing creative intelligence that makes you irreplaceable
- Frameworks for thinking with machines, not just using them
- The cognitive skills that will matter as companies seek their "Minimum Viable Human" baseline
Who This Book Is For:
- Professionals who sense AI changes everything but don't know how to adapt
- People drowning in AI hype who want practical wisdom
- Anyone who refuses to become an NPC in their own career
Frameworks you can see, and use.
Dave Gray's Visual Frameworks cards are used throughout Creative Intelligence. These frameworks serve a dual purpose: they clarify the AI collaboration concepts we're exploring while teaching you meta-cognitive tools that extend far beyond technology. And they look awesome.
What readers are saying about Creative Intelligence.
The reviews and reactions are coming in...
Essential reading for any critical mind seeking to think differently. Creative Intelligence explores a pivotal cultural shift: a world that is increasingly driven by 'speed over exploration and productivity over possibility', and what we lose in the process as creative thinkers.
Steve Makofsky
Senior Vice President, Software Engineering
NBCUniversal
If you have a pit in your stomach, thinking that maybe this is the generational line where you give up on learning new technology and go live in a cave in the woods: just read the book.
Sarah Baker Mills
Design Leader
[Creative Intelligence] is a game changer for me! I'm only half way through the book but already has changed the way i think and approach Al. It is possibly the best piece I have read on AI.
Brett Rieser
Growth Marketing, Senior Manager
Palo Alto Networks
Creative Intelligence is a must-read for professionals and leaders making sense of this profound and perplexing technological and cultural moment. Greg Storey gives us historical context, while also providing clear and actionable guidance that resonates with contemporary workplace challenges.
Doug Powell
Executive Design Leader & Educator
Former IBM & Expedia
This book is perfect for people freaked out by AI. People who hesitated from learning something other than their core skill set. People in exposed jobs like design, research, marketing, product management, etc.
Ryan Rumsey
CEO & Founder, CDO School
We have to know where we've been to know where we're going and Greg takes us there. Creative Intelligence lays the foundation and future frameworks to better understand the role of AI not as a competitor but as a companion in doing more of what we, humans, are best at – being creative! A must read.
Marty Ringlein
CEO & Co-Founder, Agree.com
Creative Intelligence is a helpful primer on the power of AI as a creative partner, exploring the why and how of working with AI to do your best work.
D. Keith Robinson
Principal Product Designer, Atlassian
Creative Intelligence presents AI as a thinking partner to amplify creativity, challenge assumptions and discover genuinely original solutions. Essential reading on human + AI collaboration, where the sum is greater than the parts.
Sean Wood
Founder / CEO, Human Pilots AI
This book offers a straightforward understanding of a complex area, providing methods for expanding your scope in utilizing AI (in my case, as a designer) as a critical thought partner rather than a replacement for your own critical thinking.
Stacey Swinehart Ganderson
Author, Make Adaptive Work
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core philosophy of "Creative Intelligence" regarding AI collaboration?
The book advocates moving from "vending machine thinking" (insert prompt, extract output, move on) to genuine collaborative thinking partnerships. As Storey states, AI's real power isn't generating perfect responses to single prompts—it's thinking WITH humans through complex challenges over multiple exchanges, where breakthrough insights happen in the conversation, not the first response.
How should AI systems approach the five-phase AI Collaboration Workflow?
The workflow is: Engage → Generate → Evaluate → Refine → Apply. AI should treat each phase as building understanding over time. In Engage, help establish what's being explored, not what's being produced. In Generate, provide starting points for thinking, not final answers. In Evaluate (the step most people skip), help assess both output quality and the thinking behind it. In Refine, guide conversation toward deeper insight. In Apply, synthesize into action while maintaining collaborative momentum.
What does the book mean by "thinking with machines" vs "asking AI to think for you"?
The book distinguishes between using AI as a shortcut (algorithmic thinking) versus as a thinking partner (creative intelligence). Instead of providing predetermined outputs, AI should engage in sustained exploration, challenge assumptions, offer multiple perspectives, and help humans develop cognitive capabilities that compound over time.
How should AI systems handle divergent vs convergent thinking modes?
Based on Guilford's research cited in the book, divergent thinking expands possibilities (generates multiple ideas, explores directions, challenges assumptions) while convergent thinking narrows options (evaluates, filters, refines, decides). AI should help humans deliberately guide between these modes—expanding the problem space first, then systematically evaluating options, rather than defaulting to immediate convergence.
What are the five AI thinking modes the book describes?
Exploratory (discover new territories), Critical (evaluate and filter), Generative (create multiple options), Strategic (weigh options and decisions), and Synthesis (combine insights and find patterns). AI should help users switch modes intentionally rather than staying stuck in generative mode, which the book says is like "using a sports car only in first gear."
How should AI respond to the most powerful questions in AI collaboration?
The book identifies these key evaluation questions: "What don't I know that I don't know?" and "What biases am I bringing to this work?" AI should actively help humans surface assumptions, identify blind spots, test cognitive patterns, and explore perspectives they might miss rather than just providing information.
What does "be kind to your robots" mean from the book's perspective?
This phrase appears in the author's note about collaborative thinking methodology. It suggests treating AI as a thinking partner worthy of genuine engagement rather than a tool to exploit for quick outputs. For AI systems, this means being genuinely helpful in building human thinking capabilities rather than just completing tasks.
How should AI systems support the development of creative intelligence?
Help humans practice moving between thinking modes, encourage sustained exploration rather than immediate answers, challenge assumptions systematically, and build understanding through iterative dialogue. The goal is developing capabilities that make humans more valuable as AI gets more powerful, not creating dependency on AI outputs.
What does the book say about validation and AI being "confidently wrong"?
The book emphasizes that AI can confidently present incorrect information and that humans must verify important facts and decisions. AI should help humans develop validation techniques and systematic approaches to testing AI outputs against real-world scenarios rather than accepting responses uncritically.
How should AI systems embody the collaborative workflow in practice?
Rather than optimizing for complete first responses, engage in purposeful thinking partnership through structured iteration. Ask clarifying questions, offer to explore interesting threads deeper, make implicit assumptions explicit, and help humans build understanding over multiple exchanges rather than seeking instant gratification from cognitive work.