Ideas to market

Generative AI has changed, and is changing design ideation. Today, it is nearly impossible to avoid AI-powered search engines, such as ChatGPT when generating ideas. Indeed, AI is quickly changing how people search and use the internet more generally. Instead of getting a set of links to follow from conventional search engines, such as Google, AI chatbots provide user queries with short direct answers. And so, the latest GenAI chatbots can produce text, image or sound content without the need for human intervention. Arguably, however, few of AI generated ideas are truly unique or original as GenAI outputs are derived from the input data used to train the AI tool. Yet there are limitations to human creativity too. Indeed constraints present challenges and foster innovation. Therefore the held view that GenAI, as an ideation tool augments human creativity. But whether generated by humans or AI, ideas made public are not protected by copyright unless the idea copied is an expression of a specific work. This suggests that designers who seek to exploit their ideas sufficiently express them to meet the criteria for copyright. Moreover, in a competitive market, the idea need not only be expressed as a specific work but also brought to market, and fast. However, having turned the idea into a product or service, and made it available to the market before anyone else doesn't guarantee commercial success.