mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Transformational Creativity in Science: A Graphical Theory

arXiv 2504.18687 ↗First posted 25 Apr 2025cs.AIcited by 5

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Abstract (arXiv)

Creative processes are typically divided into three types: combinatorial, exploratory, and transformational. Here, we provide a graphical theory of transformational scientific creativity, synthesizing Boden's insight that transformational creativity arises from changes in the "enabling constraints" of a conceptual space and Kuhn's structure of scientific revolutions as resulting from paradigm shifts. We prove that modifications made to axioms of our graphical model have the most transformative potential and then illustrate how several historical instances of transformational creativity can be captured by our framework.

Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 3 of its 32 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 25 Apr 2025.

Builds on

3 of 32 references.

References · 3

  1. 2024Can LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas? A Large-Scale Human Study with 100+ NLP Researcherscited by 363
  2. 2024Generating Interesting Scientific Ideas using Knowledge Graphs and LLMs: Evaluations with 100 Research Group Leaderscited by 22
  3. 2024Towards a Formal Creativity Theory: Preliminary results in Novelty and Transformativenesscited by 1

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 2; 2026: 3.

5 papers.

  1. 2025Measuring Combinatorial Creativity in Large Language Models and Humanscited by 7
  2. 2026CreativityNeuro: Steering Language Model Weights to Improve Divergent Thinking and Reduce Mode Collapsecited by 2
  3. 2025Active Inference AI Systems for Scientific Discoverycited by 1
  4. 2026Assessing the Creativity of Large Language Models: Testing, Limits, and New Frontierscited by 0
  5. 2026AGC-Bench: Measuring Artificial General Creativitycited by 0