Design in dialogue. AI as an aid of imagination for future scenarios

Generative AI tools foreshadow fundamental changes in the dynamics of creative work. Albeit controlling the output is still challenging, the rapid conceptual development and visualization can be particularly helpful in the exploratory phase, facilitating approaches such as design fiction. The contribution aims at providing an overview of how AI can fit in various steps, demonstrating in particular how the AI-enabled visualization from text and sketches allows imagining and iterating quickly on future scenarios. Starting from a benchmarking of over sixty AI tools according to the Design Thinking process, the efficacy of a human-AI collaboration has been experimented through workshops with over hundred and fifty students. These activities have demonstrated the efficacy of following a well-defined dialogue protocol of Human Intelligence “framing” Artificial Intelligence, which serves as an AI skill-building tool, as well as a creative icebreaker, leading to vivid representations of speculative scenarios as foundation for the forward-thinking design process.