The Things AI Can’t Teach: The Value of Huamnity
Reference:
DeSchryver, M., Henriksen, D., Leahy, S., & Lindsay, S. (2024). Beyond automation: Intrinsically human aspects of creativity in the age of generative AI. Central Michigan University & Arizona State University.
Annotation:
In a world where GenAI is getting better at writing, designing, analyzing, and even “creating,” this article asks a surprisingly grounding question:
What parts of creativity are still fundamentally human and why should we care?
The authors argue that while AI can mimic creative output, it cannot replicate the experience of creativity. They highlight six intrinsically human creative capacities:
Curiosity
Intuition
Mindfulness/Patience
Imagination
Empathy
Embodied Thinking
Each of these capacities is shown to stem from lived experience, emotion, bodily awareness, and cultural or ethical context, things AI cannot meaningfully possess.
The article concludes with a bold call for education and training programs to prioritize these human strengths, especially as workplaces adopt more AI tools. What makes this article compelling for L&D practitioners is how clearly it demonstrates that the deepest forms of learning transfer rely on human senses and embodied cognition, not just content delivery.
Even in corporate e-learning or hybrid training, learners use their:
sense of movement
perception of space
emotional resonance
curiosity-driven discomfort
intuitive pattern recognition
empathetic social awareness
reflective stillness
These are not “nice to have” elements. They are the mechanisms through which information becomes memory, memory becomes understanding, and understanding becomes real-world behavior change. AI can support training, but it cannot replace these body-anchored processes.
The article’s strengths lie in its clear framework of six human creative traits, which provides educators with a practical structure for evaluating AI’s role in learning environments. It also connects theory to real educational practice, offering concrete implications for classrooms and instructional design.
The authors thoughtfully distinguish between AI’s ability to mimic creative outputs and the uniquely human experience of creativity, and they incorporate cultural and embodied perspectives that highlight AI’s current limitations. However, the article can be dense at times, relying heavily on academic theory, which may feel abstract for practitioners seeking immediate application. Its cultural analysis leans largely on Western research, leaving room for broader global insight, and while it acknowledges that AI may evolve toward more human-like traits, it stops short of fully exploring emerging areas such as embodied robotics and multimodal agentic systems.
The article does not explicitly frame creativity in terms of the body’s senses—but it could, and doing so makes the implications for learning transfer even more powerful.
Below is a reframing of the six traits through the lens of innate human sensory faculties, capacities AI cannot authentically replicate.
1. Curiosity → The Sense of “Cognitive Hunger”
Linked to dopamine systems, orientation reflexes, and the brain’s drive toward novelty.
In training, curiosity sparks attention — the first gateway to learning transfer.
2. Intuition → Gut Sense (Interoception) + Pattern Experience
Humans feel intuition physically: tightness, ease, resonance.
AI has no interoceptive system and no lived experiences to shape intuitive judgment.
3. Mindfulness/Patience → Temporal Sensory Awareness
Humans perceive time through emotional and physiological regulation.
Incubation, the moment when learning quietly consolidates, depends on embodied calm, not computational speed.
4. Imagination → Mental Imagery + Visuospatial Processing
When we imagine, sensory cortices light up as if we are seeing or hearing.
AI recombines text and image data but does not experience imagery.
5. Empathy → Emotional Resonance (Affective Sensing)
Humans detect microexpressions, tone, posture, and relational energy unconsciously.
AI can label emotions but cannot feel them or use them for moral discernment.
6. Embodied Thinking → The Entire Sensorimotor System
Creativity is deeply body-based: gesture, movement, rhythm, weight, balance.
These physical cues are essential for problem-solving, skill acquisition, and long-term memory encoding.
New Ways to Engage Remote Learning
Reference:
Dirkin, K., Hain, A., Tolin, M., & McBride, A. (2020). OMMI: Offline MultiModal Instruction. Central Michigan University & Dare County Schools.
Annotation:
If you have ever tried to run training for a decentralized workforce, especially sales teams who seem to always be on the road, you know the struggle. WiFi drops. Airports are loud. Hotel connections crawl. And yet these employees have the greatest need for frequent learning because success in sales depends on constant skill improvement. That is exactly why OMMI jumped out as such a refreshing idea.
The Offline Multimodel Instruction (OMMI) model, originally built to support students without broadband access, is all about sending rich, interactive learning experiences without relying on the Internet. This is done through something called datacasting, which delivers videos, documents, and other multimodal content straight to a device even if the user has zero connectivity.
The fun part of OMMI is how simple but clever it is. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it repurposes everyday tools that already exist on a device to mimic interactive digital learning. Think PowerPoints that behave like mini websites, Word documents with layered clickable elements, and packages of media organized into a weekly learning hub the authors call an anchor document. The whole idea is that offline learning does not have to be boring worksheets. It can be designed to feel interactive and intentional even when it arrives through a one way delivery system.
Now picture how this translates to a remote sales workforce. Sales teams often squeeze learning into airplanes, Uber rides, hotel rooms, and fifteen minute breaks between client visits. They need training that is portable, reliable, self paced, and available without a perfect Internet connection. OMMI offers a way to package skill boosters, micro lessons, role play prompts, and scenario based challenges in a format that they can always access no matter how chaotic their travel schedule gets.
A sales rep could receive a weekly module that includes short videos, interactive exercises built inside slides, and a performance task like drafting a product pitch or analyzing a customer scenario. They do the work offline and upload it whenever they finally get stable connectivity again. This is exactly the kind of system Allegiant Professional Resources can leverage for companies that want to keep their sales staff sharp without forcing everyone into routine Zoom sessions or LMS logins.
Allegiant could design OMMI style modules that mirror the realities of sales work. For example, a “road ready” toolkit for new features, a rapid update package before a product launch, or protocol based reflection activities that help salespeople strengthen their pitch structure and questioning strategies. Because OMMI encourages balanced assessment, Allegiant can design tasks that show real learning instead of relying on simple quizzes. Offline pitch recordings, annotated product sheets, or quick customer mapping exercises can all be part of a multimodal package that requires no WiFi but still drives real capability improvement.
In short, OMMI takes the pressure off connectivity and puts the focus back on learning. For decentralized workforces, especially those with heavy travel demands, this approach can make professional development feel more accessible and more human. And for Allegiant, OMMI opens up a path to deliver high quality learning experiences that follow salespeople wherever the job takes them.