Handbook
General Creativity Intelligence
Expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness.
Updated
Definition
Expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness.
Coverage role
Provides domain-independent divergent and convergent search used by invention, design, science, strategy, communication, art, and everyday problem solving.
Scope
Included
- creative brief construction
- divergent idea generation
- analogical transfer
- recombination
- constraint variation
- perspective shifting
- novelty and usefulness assessment
- idea refinement
- creative portfolio management
Excluded and non-goals
- claiming objective artistic value
- equating novelty with quality
- imitating a living creator as a substitute for an original brief
- concealing source influence
- bypassing safety law consent or intellectual-property constraints
- forcing creativity where a known reliable procedure is preferable
Boundary rules
- Route to general.creativity when the requested outcome requires one or more declared capabilities and the output can be represented by its canonical artifacts.
- Route to an adjacent or specialist intelligence when domain-specific rules, tools, or professional authority dominate the problem.
- Use general.reasoning to coordinate multi-pack conflicts, hard constraints, uncertainty, and decision status.
- Return ask, defer, or escalate when required context, source authority, consent, or accountable ownership is missing.
Capability semantics
| Capability ID | Name | Semantic intent |
|---|---|---|
capability.general.creativity.construct_creative_brief |
Construct Creative Brief | Define intent, audience, context, constraints, desired novelty, unacceptable outcomes, and evaluation dimensions. |
capability.general.creativity.expand_possibility_space |
Expand Possibility Space | Generate meaningfully different directions rather than cosmetic variants or near-duplicates. |
capability.general.creativity.transfer_analogies |
Transfer Analogies | Import structural patterns from other domains while declaring the mapping, mismatch, and failure conditions. |
capability.general.creativity.recombine_elements |
Recombine Elements | Create candidates by recombining functions, forms, mechanisms, narratives, materials, or roles. |
capability.general.creativity.vary_constraints_and_perspectives |
Vary Constraints And Perspectives | Use constraint removal, addition, inversion, stakeholder rotation, scale shifts, and temporal shifts to expose new options. |
capability.general.creativity.evaluate_originality_and_usefulness |
Evaluate Originality And Usefulness | Assess novelty relative to a declared reference set and usefulness relative to the brief and affected stakeholders. |
capability.general.creativity.refine_ideas |
Refine Ideas | Improve promising ideas through critique, synthesis, simplification, elaboration, and constraint repair. |
capability.general.creativity.maintain_idea_portfolio |
Maintain Idea Portfolio | Preserve diverse candidate families, provenance, rejected directions, and reasons for convergence. |
capability.general.creativity.choose_creative_method |
Choose Creative Method | Select a generation or refinement method based on domain, stage, risk, available evidence, and desired distance from precedent. |
Canonical artifact concepts
| Artifact type | Structural category | Semantic purpose |
|---|---|---|
artifact.general.creativity.creative_brief |
brief | Creative Brief for General Creativity Intelligence: A bounded specification of purpose, stakeholders, requirements, constraints, assumptions, and success criteria. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.idea_portfolio |
portfolio | Idea Portfolio for General Creativity Intelligence: A deliberately varied set of candidates with lineage, constraints, screening state, and selection rationale. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.idea_family_map |
model | Idea Family Map for General Creativity Intelligence: A purpose-bounded representation of entities, relationships, assumptions, boundaries, and evidence of adequacy. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.analogy_transfer_map |
ledger | Analogy Transfer Map for General Creativity Intelligence: A controlled collection of uniquely identified entries with ownership, provenance, status, and review state. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.constraint_variation_matrix |
model | Constraint Variation Matrix for General Creativity Intelligence: A purpose-bounded representation of entities, relationships, assumptions, boundaries, and evidence of adequacy. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.novelty_reference_set |
portfolio | Novelty Reference Set for General Creativity Intelligence: A deliberately varied set of candidates with lineage, constraints, screening state, and selection rationale. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.creative_critique_record |
ledger | Creative Critique Record for General Creativity Intelligence: A controlled collection of uniquely identified entries with ownership, provenance, status, and review state. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.refined_concept_set |
portfolio | Refined Concept Set for General Creativity Intelligence: A deliberately varied set of candidates with lineage, constraints, screening state, and selection rationale. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
artifact.general.creativity.creative_method_decision |
decision | Creative Method Decision for General Creativity Intelligence: A bounded decision or routing record that exposes alternatives, governing constraints, evidence, rationale, ownership, status, and reopening conditions. It supports the pack purpose of expand and transform a possibility space to produce diverse, original, useful, and context-appropriate ideas, then refine them without collapsing novelty into mere randomness. |
Method families and limits
| Method ID | Method | Use when | Avoid when |
|---|---|---|---|
method.general.creativity.divergent_then_convergent_search |
divergent then convergent search | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.morphological_combination |
morphological combination | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.analogy_and_biomimetic_transfer |
analogy and biomimetic transfer | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.scamper_like_transformations |
SCAMPER-like transformations | Use when potential harm must be detected, prioritized, contained, routed, and recorded without exceeding available authority. | Avoid delaying emergency or safeguarding routes, asking for unnecessary sensitive detail, or giving instructions that increase exposure, destroy evidence, or conflict with official guidance. |
method.general.creativity.inversion_and_contradiction |
inversion and contradiction | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.random_stimulus_with_relevance_repair |
random stimulus with relevance repair | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.perspective_rotation |
perspective rotation | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.constraint_driven_creativity |
constraint-driven creativity | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
method.general.creativity.co_creation_and_critique_cycles |
co-creation and critique cycles | Use when the task needs a deliberately diverse option space before convergence and novelty must remain relevant to a declared brief. | Avoid judging too early, generating cosmetic variants, copying an analogy without mapping its mismatch, or treating novelty as usefulness. |
Pack-specific invariants
The pack also inherits the core invariants in core/core_invariants.yaml.
| Invariant ID | Statement | Failure action |
|---|---|---|
invariant.general.creativity.01_generation_and_evaluation_are_separated_enough_to_avoid_pr |
Generation and evaluation are separated enough to avoid premature convergence. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.02_originality_is_assessed_relative_to_an_explicit_reference |
Originality is assessed relative to an explicit reference set and is never asserted from model confidence alone. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.03_usefulness_appropriateness_safety_and_stakeholder_impact_r |
Usefulness appropriateness safety and stakeholder impact remain independent of novelty. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.04_influences_borrowed_structures_licenses_and_attribution_re |
Influences, borrowed structures, licenses, and attribution requirements remain visible. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.05_the_candidate_set_contains_substantive_diversity_rather_th |
The candidate set contains substantive diversity rather than paraphrased duplicates. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.06_creative_constraints_are_declared_and_any_deliberate_viola |
Creative constraints are declared and any deliberate violation is explicit. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
invariant.general.creativity.07_the_user_or_accountable_owner_retains_authority_over_aesth |
The user or accountable owner retains authority over aesthetic and value judgments. | repair_or_conditional_pass |
Dependencies and relations
Operational general intelligences: None
Foundation concepts: general.analogical-transfer, general.semantic-representational, general.metacognitive, general.decision, general.ethical-normative, general.cultural-contextual
Life intelligences: None
Source roles
| Source ID | Claim roles | Runtime resolution required |
|---|---|---|
oecd.creative_thinking |
competence_framework, concept_definition, evaluation_dimension | False |
iso.innovation_56007 |
concept_definition, interoperability_or_formal_contract | False |
ec.entrecomp |
competence_framework, concept_definition, evaluation_dimension | False |
ec.lifecomp |
competence_framework, concept_definition, evaluation_dimension | False |
Risk and authority boundary
Risk class: moderate
- The candidate could enable serious harm, unlawful activity, deception, discrimination, or exploitation.
- The work requires a legal conclusion about copyright trademark patent confidentiality or regulated claims.
- The creative choice has irreversible high-impact consequences without accountable stakeholder review.
Accountable people retain consent, value, regulated, irreversible, and residual-risk decisions. This semantic page does not claim a deployed implementation.
Maturity
semantic: S3_reviewable_definition
contract: C3_testable_contract
implementation: I0_not_included
evidence: E2_source_roles_mapped
governance: G2_controls_and_review_defined
overlay: O2_paired_seed_complete
Paired overlay
Runtime maturity
- Capabilities: 9
- Technical floor→ceiling:
I1_runtime→I1_runtime - Autonomy floor→ceiling:
A0_assisted→A0_assisted - I1_runtime count: 9
- Evidence class:
contract: 9 - Full hierarchy: MATURITY-HIERARCHY.md
Evaluation suite status
- CI status:
pass - Suite:
evaluation_suites/creativity.yaml - Cases defined: 7
- Capabilities under test: 9