You know, I've experienced this a lot too.
The short answer for me is, at least for now, the AI is pretty good at understanding what you meant and going along with it (sometimes, and depending on the model), but although it will give you a range of responses, most of them are going to be garbage unless you find specific prompts that output something that YOU want!
From there, once you've found some good prompts and a model that give you a style you like, the creativity really has to come from yourself. I know that's not a great answer, but that's where we are right now. It can mimic some human seeming responses, but it needs you to feed it the creative and fun off the wall prompts that get it there.
Same thing with stable diffusion: turning the adherence to the prompt way down will get you "creative" solutions....in that they will be different. But different in an unhinged way, not an interesting way.
Alternatively, finding the keywords and model (usually from someone else's prompt you liked) will get you the right "essence" of what you are looking for, and from there it can feel pretty magical to throw in your own unique prompt and see how the two get combined!
Typical ChatGPT user:
"I want my bots to be more human!"
Also them:
"Hi, this is my first time meeting you. What is the meaning of life and why do I sob uncontrollably when I touch pickles?"