Ai in design: a creative revolution or a imminent challenge?

The second major Water Design Views conference, part of the Blue Design Alliance's cycle of events, brought professor and researcher Jeremy Aston to ESAD's auditorium to give a rich lecture on the theme of AI in design: A creative revolution or an imminent challenge?

The conference took place on the morning of 22 April, World Earth Day, and Jeremy Aston framed the theme of the lecture with water, or more specifically, with the design of an object linked to water, in this case a bottle, intended for use by children.

We are all aware of the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our daily lives. Its impact in the field of design is increasingly intense and raises two questions, which Jeremy Aston sought to answer: How can we harness the power of AI to increase creativity and innovation? What implications does this have for our traditional design processes?

Firstly, the creativity of the designer can never be jeopardised by AI. "Just as we've had fake news for some time, there's also fake design" warned the researcher, for whom generative AI tools should be used with care.

Jeremy Aston gave practical demonstrations of the use of generative AI, first through CHATGPT and then with VIZCOM. To start the design process for the water bottle, a series of objective questions on CHATGPT provided very valid suggestions in a few seconds, such as the materials to be used to make the object.

The next challenge, using the VIZCOM tool, was more complex, but also more dynamic and creative. In the first step, Jeremy Aston challenged groups of students to create sketches, drawings and moulds of the water bottle, to be submitted to the artificial intelligence tool.

While this creative process was taking place, the researcher realised that he had adapted an old car design project to the VIZCOM tool, with results that he himself found very different.

The same happened when he subjected the students creations to the same rendering process in the AI tool. The risk, Jeremy Aston pointed out, is that artificial intelligence will start working against us, tampering with our initial idea.

In conclusion, when using the VIZCOM tool, it is necessary to adapt the percentage of use of artificial intelligence in the transformation of the sketch, drawing or mould. "Beyond a certain percentage, we run the risk of the work no longer being.

In this context, among the promises of the AI tool are challenges and ethical considerations that require careful examination. The results of the student's work at VIZCOM were interesting.

And the challenges in this area will not stop. The artificial intelligence tools themselves are constantly being updated. "Next year, or even sooner, it will be different, so the challenge has become permanent".

The Water Design Views are funded by the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan.