UX CALENDAR – DECEMBER 21 – The future AI of Design or its death?

To start this debate we will start with a brief explanation of what AIs are, even if I know in advance that most of those reading these lines are already up to date 😉!

So, Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that aims to create computer systems capable of simulating human intelligence. This can include the ability to reason, adapt and learn, understand natural language, perceive and interact with the environment, etc.

There are several different approaches to creating AI, which can be classified into two broad categories: symbolic AI and statistical AI. Symbolic AI uses predefined rules and algorithms to solve problems, while statistical AI uses data to learn and perform tasks.

There are many practical applications of AI in different fields, such as speech and image recognition, machine translation, robotics, games, finance, health, etc. AI is also an ever-evolving field of research, and new advances and applications are constantly being discovered.

And recently AIs have come to interfere in the world of design! They are now able to create designs, improve them or personalize them autonomously, using complex algorithms and learning from the experience of its users. AIs can be used in various fields of design, such as graphic design, product design, website design, and interior design.

AIs can help designers create designs faster and more efficiently by automating time-consuming tasks, coming up with design ideas, and optimizing existing designs. They can also be used to customize designs based on customer preferences and needs.

Although many think so, it is important to note that AIs will not completely replace human designers, but rather can help them be more productive and create higher quality designs.

In the years to come, designers will have to use AI more and more to improve the rendering of their work, and the very essence of the designer will indeed be his creativity, even if we can say that it is a a complex and for many subjective concept, which generally refers to the ability to generate new and original ideas. AIs, or artificial intelligence, are systems designed to simulate human intelligence and perform tasks that require intelligence but not to replace it.

It is possible to use AI to support and enhance human creativity, but it is important to emphasize that creativity remains above all a human quality. AIs can be used to generate new ideas and concepts, but they are not able to create autonomously as human beings do.

Using the right data and algorithms, AIs can be used to identify trends and patterns that can be used as a starting point for creative ideas. For example, an AI can be used to analyze a product's sales data and determine the characteristics that make it popular with consumers, which can be useful for the creation of new products.

In summary, AI can be used to support human creativity, but it cannot replace human creativity itself.

But how to use them in design?

AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be used in different ways in design, especially in the field of computer-aided design (CAD). It can help designers create and optimize models, generate design ideas, and automate certain design tasks.

However, it is important to note that AI will not completely replace human designers. Although AI can help automate some tasks and speed up the design process, it cannot replace human creativity and ingenuity. Human designers are able to create innovative designs and incorporate human and social elements into their work in ways that AI cannot match.

Ultimately, AI can be a valuable tool for designers, but it won't completely replace human designers. Rather, it can be used in ways that increase the efficiency and productivity of designers, while allowing them to focus on the more creative and innovative aspects of their work.

Let's take as an example one of the most famous AIs today: 

DALL-E, which is a language processing model designed by OpenAI that can generate images from textual descriptions. Which was trained on a large data set of images and texts.

To use DALL-E, you can provide a textual description of what you want to see in the generated image, for example “a ginger cat with butterfly wings”. DALL-E will then use its knowledge of the language and the appearance of the various elements described to generate an image corresponding to the description.

Importantly, DALL-E is a machine learning-based language processing and image generation model, and it was trained on real data. This means that it can generate images that look realistic, but it can also make mistakes or produce results that are not exactly what you had in mind, again it will be the role of the design to shape its research in order to obtain the result that he wishes to use for his design.

Example of images created by DALL-E

 

What will be the other possible uses of graphical AIs?

It is even possible that AIs are used to create NFTs or to use them in different ways. For example, an AI could be used to generate unique works of art as NFTs, or to create unique video game characters that are sold as NFTs. Some smart guys pass off these images created via AIs as artistic creations that they sell for exorbitant prices. This highlights another question, who owns the final rendering? To the human who entered a textual description into a machine to obtain a stunning rendering, which normally requires a hundred hours of work... or the machine that generated it in a few seconds?

I let you answer this question!

Image created with AI Midjourney

 

To conclude, Arguably, it is difficult to predict the exact future of AI in design, but it is likely that AI will continue to play an important role in this field in the future. AI can be used to help designers perform tedious and repetitive tasks, generate design ideas and predict future trends. However, AI is unlikely to completely replace human designers, as human creativity and ingenuity will remain indispensable in this field. Ultimately, AI could be used as a tool to augment designers' capabilities and help them create even more innovative and original designs.

Oh by the way, don't go yet! As we always say that an example is better than words, I want to share this information with you: this article was 80% written by an AI, did you guess it while reading it? 😉

 

 

 

 

Philippe ELOVENKO, UX Designer @UX-Republic


 


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