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Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage these days, but some Auburn University faculty believe the term “collective intelligence” may actually better describe the interactions between humans and computers.

Assistant Professor Eilís Finnegan and her colleagues in Auburn’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC), who helped to plan the college’s Day of Design on Nov. 15, say that’s because AI doesn’t do work on its own — it requires human creativity and decision-making.

“Our interest in ‘collective intelligence’ stems from faculty developing research and courses which engage students with the emergent AI tools and develop hybrid human-and-machine workflows for cross-disciplinary research,” Finnegan said.

Day of Design is an annual event featuring professionals from various disciplines who share their professional experiences and expertise. In both the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture and the School of Industrial and Graphic Design, the various ways professionals and students can utilize AI are rapidly changing. So, when it came time for faculty members to choose a theme for their annual Day of Design, they readily decided on ‘collective intelligence’ and then reached out to professionals who are leading the charge in this area.

“The speakers all have an attitude toward working in conjunction with machines and systems in order to responsibly and robustly address the current climate for these tools in a designer's hand,” Finnegan said. “Human and machine intelligence partnerships can offer new ways to interpret and explore autonomous pace, translatable scales and various forms of generative deliverables.”

Those speakers included Anya Domlesky, director of research at the global design firm SWA Group, who runs her firm’s innovation lab, and Karla Saldaña Ochoa, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, whose research and teaching explore the relationships between artificial and human intelligence. The day’s other guest was alumnus John McCabe, who earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a Master of Industrial Design from Auburn. McCabe, a senior design manager for IBM, shared with students how his team develops generative AI and machine learning platforms.

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Many students who attended Day of Design expressed surprise about the potential uses of AI in design work.

“As college students, we are always hearing we have to be cautious about using AI; some people say not to overuse it, and others say we shouldn’t use it at all,” said second-year architecture student Banks Folger. “So, it was very nice to hear the perspective that we should learn how to use it as a tool, just not so much that you’re relying on it all the time.”

Kaitlin Hudson, a first-year pre-architecture student, agreed.

“I believe it’s very useful as long as you don’t abuse it,” she said. “You still need to have your own creativity in your designs, but I think using AI to assist you with processes is a very innovative way of working.”

Junior Brooke Burgoon said she and her classmates in the Environmental Design program were already familiar with some of the benefits of working with AI.

“All of our professors have already been encouraging us to use it, so actually seeing how it gets used by professionals is pretty cool,” Burgoon said. “Our entire degree is interdisciplinary, so I think the speakers’ encouragement of going beyond the design field to including technology and engineering is really cool. And that’s a lot easier to do when you use AI.”