Partly because Shenzhen is ‘Technology Town’ extraordinaire, partly because our theme for the Design Shenzhen Forum is ‘The Fusion of Design and Technology’, and partly because everyone in Design and Architecture needs to get to grips with the enormous implications of Artificial Intelligence – in their own work and the world at large – I am delighted to announce a day’s programme at Design Shenzhen (22 March 2024) of world-leading practitioners to explore, explain and discuss the phenomenon and its many ramifications. Will it put designers and architects out of a job? Is it merely for programmatic and repetitive tasks which leave the generation of ideas to creative humans? What is the ethical background to using existing work and letting it develop in an artificially intelligent context?
Our line-up includes Ross Lovegrove, world renowned product designer who has worked almost all his long and glittering career at the outside edges of technology; his partner Ila Colombo, creative director and disruptive thinker with a unique insight into the unforeseen implications of AI; Leonid Krykhtin, Ukrainian architect with a track record at Zaha Hadid Associates (one of the world’s most technologically advanced architectural practices) whose work is now 70 per cent driven by AI and the Metaverse; Martha Tsigkari, Head of Applied Research and Development at another global practice, Foster & Partners, whose understanding of how AI can be applied both to the practical and the creative processes in design is without parallel; Tim Fu, a Chinese designer working in UK whose practice is given over to the application of the AI in the work; and speakers from Artech, XKool and Artefact, all consultancies which have sprung up to meet the demand for a radical re-assessment of how AI-driven design will impact practice, and interpret that demand for their clients.
It's the best, most authoritative, most challenging and most provocative collection of the very best minds on the planet grappling with Artificial Intelligence in the creative process right now – and not one of them a robot. Not to be missed.
Aidan Walker, Forum Programme Director, Design Shenzhen and Design Shanghai