Our designers have been playing with AI, and here's what we think

#AI is taking our jobs! Designers will be obsolete! Run for the hills!

THINK AGAIN.

This year, our team has been playing around with Artificial Intelligence to understand how advanced the technology is and how it can be used in the design process. What we've found is that overall, AI is a tool more than a solution.

Here's why...

1. Most of the time, the AI is just re-using photos and illustrations of things that already exist, and combining them.
2. AI has trouble creating something totally new or original. We fed it an image of the Carver Cargo we did some years back with a prompt, and it kept wanting to give the design 4 wheels, most likely, because it thinks automobiles like this should have four. It couldn't quite grasp the uniqueness of the design.
3. Often, it overhauls the sketches we put in rather than working off of them. We think it's because it's too focused on creating off of existing things in its knowledge bank rather than adding to what we've done. So, it's not really a substitute for creating iterations of your designs at this time.
4. It's unreliable. The results you got yesterday might not be as interesting as the results you get today.

So, how do we think AI can be used to a designer's advantage?

Well, when we prompted an AI to create a futuristic Amsterdam, the scenic sketches were really impressive. This could be a great tool for creating quick underlayers for designs, or perhaps scenes we use in #vr .

Additionally, the variations that can be made of the AI renderings are inspiring. When you prompt an AI like Midjourney to create something, it gives you a few options. You can then prompt it to make variations of your favorite design, allowing you to quickly explore different options and get inspired.

Finally, AI can produce some really weird results and happy accidents. These (sometimes bizarre) renderings can trigger some big ideas for designers. Sometimes it takes seeing something wrong or in a totally different light to spark the creativity needed to design a new feature or create something more effecient.

Overall, what we found is that AI is a great tool to get inspired. But, it can't quite work off of sketches well enough yet, and it's quite limited to its own knowledge base.

What AI still needs, and will always need, is a curator. A smart, keen and creative designer who can prompt the AI in the right way and ultimately choose the right variations.

So, what do you think of our initial findings? And what have you found in your own AI studies??Let's discuss in the comments below!

#design #mobilitydesign #productdesign #prodctdesigners #industrialdesign #industrialdesigners #aidesigns