SSRN 6536198

AI and the Reweighting of Creative Motivation in the Generative Age

Advances the motivational reweighting thesis — generative AI redistributes creative motives rather than replacing them, with expression-weight restoration in low-stakes creation.

April 7, 2026 · Liang Zhang

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This paper proposes a triadic framework of creative motivation (expression-driven, feedback-driven, outcome-driven) and the motivational reweighting thesis: generative AI reorganizes activation costs and institutional rewards of motives that have long coexisted.

It introduces expression-weight restoration for low-stakes, self-directed creation under reduced technical friction.