some thoughts on AI from an INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER

where does AI belong in our world as Industrial Designers? And don’t give me the boring regressive BS about everything needing to come from a human hand, that’s just wrong, it doesn’t work, hasn’t worked in a long time, and it’s fairly ironic when it comes from someone who’s profession is to design products that come from an industrial process and not a skilled laborer, so no, AI isn’t bad, it’s just another tool, I use it, a lot, and it’s great, but it has it’s limitations, and we all crave for human connection, that’s the real value in what we do, not making something beautiful, or easy to use, or solving a problem, soon all of those things will be clearly within the realm of AI, but when you flip a product over and see a small, beautiful detail that you didn’t expect to be there, your first thought isn’t “why did they put that there”, but instead “wow, there was a person here, and they must’ve thought through everything if they even thought to put this here”, so your value as a designer isn’t in polishing the corner radius, and making sure the material is perfect, it’s in making sure that the user knows that there was someone on the other end of the process of making that thing, someone speaking to them quietly, in an unspoken language, and reassuring them that yes, I am here, and I am looking out

for you​ ​ *this post, despite it’s content, was clearly not written by AI, it’s too raw and intentionally sloppy, but it’s a piece of me and it reflects how I really feel, hopefully you accept that, messy format and all, and if you disagree then please feel free to pick a fight in the comments, I’d love to hear your argument, and would appreciate the engagement ;)

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