AIdeation: ChatGPT three years on

 ChatGPT, the generative artificial intelligence chatbot, was launched three years ago (November 2022) and has evolved rapidly to become the go-to software tool for generating, developing and communicating ideas, enhancing concepts and exploring scenarios. But more than this, ChatGPT, together with CAD and 3D printing is increasingly facilitating and streamlining the design process - from first thoughts to prototyping. Indeed, rare is the designer who hasn't engaged with ChatGPT, which holds 61 percent of the market for Generative AI chatbots. But despite its widespread adoption, ChatGPT is not without risks. For example, it can pose a threat to integrity, such as plagiarism (although copyright does not protect ideas or concepts per se), or create technology dependency. But while the impact and implications of ChatGPT are felt and experienced across design fields, both in education and practice, the chatbot has become a powerful assistive design tool offering creative synergy between human ingenuity and AI. Yet like any computer tool, ChatGPT should be used from critical and informed perspectives, considering both its benefits and limitations as a creative source for best course of action or possible outcome. After all, ChatGPT is only as good as the user's prompts. This highlights the role of judgement in creative thinking which may suggest building foundation for critical thinking without relying to much on GenAI systems, especially for novice designers. That is, to encourage critical thinking, in the context of design education and creative learning, to develop fortuitously through personal engagement with tools and materials that offer tactile sensations and emotional connections. That is, to empower users of ChatGPT, in often cluttered and noisy digital environments to (re)discover arts and craft tools for inventiveness. But overall, the challenges presented by chatbots call for ongoing experimentation, research and discussion.

Ideation, GenAI and critical thinking

In an analogue world, design ideas aren't forced upon the designer. They are conjectural, or guesses about reality - a proposal or tentative solution to a posed problem. In this pursuit, designers aren't idealists because design ideation is a purposeful activity aiming at realisable ideas. The designer, then, is seen as a realist seeking to be proven right. That is, the designer faces practicality having to accept the physical facts of the situation and, oftentimes the emotional side to the problem at hand. Yet some ideas can clash with reality, and when they do they remind designers that ideas may be mistaken. Ideation, then, is a process that must allow criticism in order for the idea to move forward, to propose a better solution. That is, ideation includes critical thinking skills. And so, designers not only need to be imaginative and open-minded but willing to be corrected. However, with the rise of Generative AI, what is its impact on critical thinking? Interestingly, a recent survey (2025) shows that in GenAI-assisted tasks higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking.* This may suggest that practsing ideation without GenAI assistance could help foster greater critical thinking skills also raising designer self-confidence in problem-solving ability. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-critical-thinking-self-reported-reductions-in-cognitive-effort-and-confidence-effects-from-a-survey-of-knowledge-workers/