Ideation as collective intelligence

The advance of generative artificial intelligence, GAI, for example, AI image generators, is enabling GAI to develop ideas and concepts as well as to refine visual outputs based on mimicking of what is already there. GAI as an ideation tool, however, is only as good as the datasets it is trained on and therefore produce images that tend to be rather repetitive or "in the style of". But GAI's ability to mine vast open datasets on which GAI models are trained can be problematic in that such datasets also carry creative ideas, for example, visual style and likeness which have no copyright protection. GAI, then, poses both risks and opportunities for designers: risk, in posting creative work on the interent without getting due credit or compensation - or, opportunity, in using GAI technology to augment human imagination. However, in the bigger picture, where design is both a competitive and collaborative activity, and where creativity signifies empowerment, GAI and human intelligence can complement each other. Moreover, when successfully combined, GAI + human intelligence become collective intelligence, as suggested by Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design.