BU Professor Stephen Grossberg Publishes New Book on Creativity, AI, and the Brain

By Hariri Institute Staff

Boston University’s Stephen Grossberg, Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, Director of the Center for Adaptive Systems, and Hariri Institute Faculty Affiliate has just published a new book with Oxford University Press: Your Creative Brain and AI: How We Learn and Consciously Experience Art, Music, and Meaning.

Grossberg, emeritus professor of mathematics & statistics, psychological & brain sciences, and biomedical engineering, has spent decades developing neural network models that explain how human brains generate conscious and unconscious processes in both healthy individuals and clinical patients. His work has shaped modern theories of mind and brain, including understanding learning, perception, and creativity, and has provided foundational insights that continue to influence neuroscience, cognitive science, and AI research worldwide. His 2021 Magnum Opus, Conscious Mind, Resonant Brain: How Each Brain Makes a Mind, won the 2022 PROSE Award in Neuroscience for its accessible synthesis of these discoveries.

In Your Creative Brain and AI, Grossberg explores how the brain’s neural networks have evolved to support creativity, from visual art and music to language and meaning. The book also contrasts biological neural networks with current AI approaches — including Deep Learning and ChatGPT — highlighting the limitations of artificial systems and offering a framework for developing adaptive intelligence that can advance technology and society.

Grossberg notes, “This book is for anyone curious about how our brains create meaning, experience art and music, and how these processes differ fundamentally from AI algorithms.”

Your Creative Brain and AI is available through Oxford University Press here and on Amazon.