In 2020, the world ground to a halt. COVID-19 locked us inside our homes, our cities, and in many ways, our minds. We adapted, but not without consequence. “Pandemic stiffness” became a real thing—both physical and psychological. Now, five years later, a new kind of stiffness is creeping in: AI stiffness.

Just as we once grew hesitant to move through the world freely, many are now becoming hesitant to think freely. The rise of AI-generated everything—texts, music, code, art—is creating an over-reliance that threatens our most human trait: creativity.

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What Is AI Stiffness?

AI stiffness is the intellectual equivalent of sitting in one position too long. It’s the cognitive atrophy that happens when we no longer stretch our imagination because AI is doing the heavy lifting. It’s not that AI is inherently bad. Like any tool, it reflects how we use it. But when we reach for ChatGPT before trying to brainstorm, or let generative tools finish our ideas before we’ve even fully formed them, we start to lose creative muscle.

It’s easier, yes. But it’s also lazier.

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The Similarity to COVID Stiffness

Think back to lockdowns. People developed aches from sitting too long. We got comfortable in discomfort. Movement felt risky. Many needed physical therapy just to feel normal again.

The same is happening intellectually. In a world flooded with AI-generated content, we’re becoming consumers of ideas rather than creators. Creativity is getting locked down—not by a virus, but by convenience.

And just like with COVID, if we don’t intervene early, the rehabilitation will take time.

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The Consequence: Creativity Decay

Here’s what we risk losing:

• Originality – When everything starts from a template or a prompt, what happens to the messy brilliance of starting from scratch?
• Critical Thinking – If we let AI finish our thoughts, we lose the ability to refine and challenge them.
• Problem Solving – Great innovation comes from constraints and failures, not from perfect autocomplete.
• Human Touch – AI can replicate, but it can’t feel. True creativity is more than pattern recognition; it’s emotional intelligence in action.

We’re becoming addicted to optimization and allergic to exploration.

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Reclaiming Creative Freedom

The solution isn’t to reject AI—it’s to reframe our relationship with it.

• Use AI as a jumping-off point, not the destination.
• Build “no-AI zones” into your workflow where your mind does the work first.
• Engage in analog creation—write with pen and paper, sketch without tools, ideate in whiteboards instead of screens.
• Practice creative resilience—force yourself into discomfort regularly, just like exercise.

Just like we had to learn how to move again post-lockdown, we have to relearn how to think without assistance. Creativity isn’t dead—but it might be asleep under a weighted AI blanket.

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The Final Thought

We lived through COVID stiffness by moving again—imperfectly, awkwardly, but persistently. Now we face AI stiffness. The stakes may be different, but the remedy is the same: intentional, creative movement.

If we don’t start stretching our minds, we’ll wake up one day with the same question we asked after the pandemic: What happened to us?

And maybe the scarier question: Can we get it back?