Responsible Development

Amari studies product design as a second-year student at her local college and is known for experimenting with new technologies. One afternoon, while in the fabrication lab, she watched one of her new classmates demo a just-released AI tool. Amari wanted to give it a try, too. 

She was impressed by the AI tool and the designs it produced on a project to redesign a reusable water bottle. However, when she presented some of those renderings in her class, her professor questioned whether she was demonstrating her full potential using the AI tool. They all debated about what makes the work creative, especially when AI was used in the process. Amari began doubting that she could be creative when heavily relying on the tools. She wanted to keep her voice as a designer and wasn't sure she wanted to compromise her creative point of view just to speed up her process. She also learned that creative AI technologies require careful consideration to avoid potential harm. The cautious development of creative AI tools could ensure the technology is used more responsibly.

As Amari continued her exploration of responsible AI development, she stumbled upon an intriguing project at a nearby tech incubator. The project focused on creating AI tools that adapted to individual artists' styles and preferences over time. Amari was fascinated by the idea and was invited to join a beta test of their tool after reaching out to the incubator. She used the adaptive AI tool alongside her traditional methods for a month. She kept a journal to reflect on her experiences. She found that the tool did seem to evolve with her and her unique style. Amari began to believe the creative industry could balance innovation with ethical considerations and minimize unintended consequences.

Amari considered new possibilities for responsible AI development in creative fields like product design. Could creative AI tools be customized not just to individual artists but to specific projects or even a specific mood? Could they serve as a bridge between different artistic disciplines in ways that help creative individuals explore unfamiliar territories? At the same time, Amari remained mindful of the need for transparency in AI-assisted work.

Her research into the intersection of AI and creativity led her to think of AI tools as collaborative partners rather than tools that would produce final solutions. For her final project, she decided to use texture graphics that her AI tool generated and place that graphic over a 3D model of a water bottle that she designed. She felt like this was a creative synthesis of human-machine collaboration.

Amari's project attracted attention at a student exhibition, and her classmates continued to discuss her use of AI in her design process. The continued interest in Amari's project led her to start an Instagram account that combined creative AI and product design. She and some of her classmates showcase their projects and others that blended AI and product design. This deepened Amari's understanding of how creative AI tools are developed and their potential (and limitations). It also helped her develop a more critical mindset when using these new technologies.

What do you think?


Questions for Discussion

  • How can AI tools enhance the creative process in product design?
  • What unique ideas did AI generate for Amari's sustainable water bottle project that may not have been conceived through traditional methods?
  • How can designers ensure that their personal voice is maintained in AI-assisted projects?
  • In what ways can AI-generated insights be integrated with personal aesthetics and environmental considerations in design?
  • What ethical considerations arise from using AI in product design projects?
  • How does the use of AI in design impact traditional skill development and the originality of the work produced?
  • How do you envision the future relationship between AI and product design evolving?

List of resources that, in part, focus on this topic

Sustainability

Frances attends a small local college and will graduate this year from a program called Creative Coding. She looks for ways to reduce her environmental footprint but is unsure how to deal with the rapid advances of generative AI. On the one hand, she's fascinated by all the new tools that have been emerging and wants to create digital art using platforms she sees her friends using, which can transform a simple sentence into a stunning visual and even generate the code for a new app. However, her excitement was diminished by a guest lecturer in one of her environmental science classes. The lecturer discussed the hidden environmental cost of some AI tools and highlighted the substantial energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with training and running AI models. 

Frances realized she might need to revisit her plans to incorporate AI tools into her projects. She wanted to learn more, so she explored the assertion that one image generated by an AI tool could require a lot of computational power. This power is generated in large data centers that need vast amounts of nonrenewable energy, electricity, and water to cool them down.

As she looked into it further, Frances became more familiar with the ongoing debate within the tech and creative communities. Some people think that AI's current environmental cost is justified by its potential to solve complex problems and even address climate change. “AI-driven innovations in renewable energy, smart grid systems, and climate modeling are examples of how AI could ultimately lead to a more sustainable future,” one person argued. “Short-term environmental impact of AI development,” another claimed, “was a necessary investment for long-term global sustainability.”

Frances wanted to hear from people in her local community, so she organized a panel discussion at her school. She invited professors who research AI, environmental science, and sustainable technology. The AI expert said the focus on AI's energy consumption was misplaced since it is still a tiny percentage of global energy used, compared to industries like transportation or manufacturing. The environmental scientist countered that the rapid growth of AI made it necessary to intervene before the environmental impact was too significant to manage. The sustainable technologist suggested that AI might optimize its energy consumption to make it an automated and sustainable technology. This nuanced debate left Frances with a deep appreciation for the subtleties of balancing technological progress with environmental responsibility.

She wondered what she and others could do to use this powerful technology sustainably and began looking for examples of AI models trained on renewable energy. She joined forums where creative communities shared tips to reduce the environmental impact of their work, looked into using more energy-efficient hardware, and signed up for services that run on renewable energy, among other ways of reducing the carbon footprint.

What do you think?


Questions for Discussion

  • How can AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E enhance the creative process for digital artists like Isa?
  • How does the energy consumption of AI data centers contribute to carbon emissions and climate change?
  • How can digital artists balance their passion for creating AI-generated art with the need to minimize their environmental footprint?
  • What sustainable practices can artists adopt to reduce the environmental impact of their AI-generated creations?
  • What steps can the tech industry take to ensure that AI development is more sustainable?
  • How do you envision the future relationship between AI and digital art evolving in terms of sustainability?
  • What innovations or changes would you like to see in the field of AI to make it more environmentally friendly?
  • What interdisciplinary approaches can be taken to ensure that AI tools are designed and used in ways that respect and protect the environment?

List of resources that, in part, focus on this topic