Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are becoming increasingly present in our daily lives thanks to their capability of untangling the complexities of our diverse and exceptionally dynamic society. More and more working sectors are introducing almost frenetically this disruptive technology into their practices, hoping to enhance them.

On the other hand, the impact and implications of such introduction are still largely unknown. The issue is also present in the design discipline since designers are trying to incorporate AI systems into their design process more frequently, as confirmed by the numerous recent publications on the subject. These studies mainly focus on the potential of AI systems to enhance human capabilities, such as “creativity”, and design process practices, such as “idea generation”.

My work, otherwise, tries to investigate the topic on a higher level and aims to frame the properties of this new human(designer)-AI collaboration, considering its implications on the design process from the lens of co-authorship.
Indeed, due to recent developments, AI systems are gaining agency and autonomy over assigned tasks. Consequently, while observing the ultimate design outcome, it’s increasingly difficult to recognise what was done by the designer and what was done by the AI system, meaning that the designer and AI systems' works are inseparable.

All of the above opens new questions on the designer-AI collaboration, co-authorship ambiguity and intellectual property rights in the design practice.