As the world and humans evolve, it is expected of us to accept any form of new technology that comes our way. I believe that this is normally a positive aspect of our evolution, but sometimes this expectation results in the loss of humanity. While I believe that there is no place for Generative AI in the design process, I understand that there can be ways in which it might be impossible to avoid using it, especially in a corporate environment.

For those feeling pressured, or for designers seeking hope in a world that discourages their creativity, I have created this as a set of guidelines for my future practice.

Simply put, Artificial Intelligence is the umbrella term used to describe a number of computer systems that automate and optimise tasks that are usually performed by humans. These are based on predefined rules and algorithms, or predict outcomes based on patterns or past behaviours. Think of Youtube recommendations or search algorithms.

Generative AI is a subset of AI that creates “new” content based on a much larger set of data- it pretty much works the same but on a much bigger scale and without the strict rules that other forms of AI work under.

Although there may be times when it is part of our task to include GenAI in the design process, I don’t allow it to be more than 10% of my work. I omit its use in the process after ideation. I stray far away from using any of its prompted ideas one to one.

When we are faced with a project that considers the human experience, human led design should be at the forefront of the project, in opposition to generated design. GenAI should not be touching those considerations. We should always be iterating forward based on the feedback of other humans.

As much as we want to blame GenAI for the downward slope of creativity in the industry, it is ultimately up to us in how we use what it outputs. Its algorithm simply does what it’s told. If we use it, we must take responsibility for what we take into our final product. We still must credit its output, although we will never know for sure the primary source it generated the idea from.

In assuring that my work is consistently mine, I never stray far from my own visual style, even when there are strict parameters to what I’m designing. Design is intrinsically human. We must be vigilant in keeping this idea alive.

Do I even need to say anything for this section?
Coming back to responsibility, we are responsible for anything we may do with GenAI. When we copy and reference artists and designers we love, even then there is a form of human interaction. This is not the case with image generation. We can’t even trace back to any of the sources we may have stolen from.

Finally, if you are creating for yourself, then do the creating yourself. Art is about the process, and art is about the relationship between you and your work. Introducing a third party makes every relationship hard. Humans experience life. Humans experience love. Use these experiences to your advantage.

You don’t need to rely on an algorithm to make something human.