How Creatives Approach GenAI Image Generation: Tensions Between Structured Guidance, Self-Experimentation, and Creative Autonomy
For HCI researchers and tool designers, this work identifies a key tension in supporting creative AI users: balancing guidance with preserving creative autonomy.
This study investigates how creatives learn and use GenAI image tools, finding that while structured guidance helps understanding, many prefer self-experimentation to preserve creative autonomy, revealing a tension between AI literacy and creative freedom.
As generative AI tools increasingly influence creative practice, they raise longstanding HCI questions about how creatives learn complex software and how they can be better supported. We conducted an interview study with artists and hobbyists (n=8) and a follow-up survey (n=159) to understand how this population approaches and seeks guidance for GenAI image tools. We found that creatives commonly use either self-experimentation or tutorials to explore GenAI tools, yet many struggle with confusing AI terminology. To gain further insight into creatives' learning experiences, we developed a research probe to elicit creatives' perceptions of structured guidance. Our user study with 17 creatives revealed that, even when creatives described the guidance as helpful for understanding AI, many still preferred self-experimentation, feeling that guidance could limit their creativity. Our findings highlight a central tension in supporting AI literacy for creatives: balancing guidance and promoting literacy while preserving creative freedom.