Rethinking design collaboration in the age of AI

Observer

3 days ago

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly redefining how interior designers think, work and imagine spaces. No longer a niche innovation, AI has become a vital tool that complements and enhances human creativity in architectural and spatial design. Through the integration of technologies like generative design algorithms, machine learning and predictive modelling, designers can now explore a wider range of possibilities, assess functional scenarios and visualise environments in real-time.
This shift marks a transition from tool-based design thinking to collaborative intelligence, where the designer and the digital system work in tandem to generate high-performing, user-centric interiors.
Interior designers have always navigated a complex intersection of art, psychology and function. However, with the advent of AI, their role has evolved into one that requires strategic digital literacy. The modern designer must understand not only how to create beautiful spaces but also how to curate data, interpret algorithms and frame intelligent queries that prompt meaningful design outputs from AI systems.
AI-driven tools such as parametric modelling platforms and automated layout systems empower designers to explore iterations at unprecedented speed. Still, the ability to extract cultural meaning, ensure emotional resonance and respond to human values remains a uniquely human strength — beyond the reach of even the most sophisticated machines.
AI's ability to generate visual interpretations based on written or conceptual prompts — seen in systems like MIDJOURNEY or DALL-E — has sparked both excitement and debate in the creative industries. Designers can now produce complex visual compositions in minutes, rapidly testing ideas without the need for extensive manual input. Yet, what these images often lack is semantic depth — the embedded cultural, psychological and experiential context that informs truly human design.
This highlights a critical distinction: AI can produce images, but only designers can assign them meaning. While AI offers combinatorial creativity — reconfiguring what already exists — it does not originate ideas rooted in human memory, history, or place.
A significant challenge facing interior design education today is the disconnect between academia and industry practice. While professional environments increasingly rely on data-rich design tools and AI-integrated workflows, many academic programmes continue to focus on conventional drafting, limited software training and analogue ideation processes.
To prepare future designers, universities must revise their curricula to include cross-disciplinary modules in digital ethics, coding basics, environmental analytics and interactive systems. A comprehensive understanding of these tools, coupled with a critical approach to their use, ensures that graduates enter the profession with both technical skills and a grounded design philosophy.
As AI becomes more embedded in the design process, it raises important ethical considerations. The question of authorship becomes complex when a designer uses AI tools that rely on massive data sets composed of pre-existing imagery. Who owns the creative output — the user or the machine's developers? Similarly, where does originality lie in a design generated through algorithmic processes? Another concern is the risk of cultural erasure. AI systems trained on dominant aesthetic traditions may unintentionally reinforce homogenised, global design trends, marginalising local styles, languages and user experiences. Designers must therefore actively critique the systems they use and advocate for inclusive databases that respect cultural nuance.
The next generation of designers will need to move beyond merely mastering digital tools. They must cultivate a post-digital mindset, where technology is seamlessly integrated into design thinking rather than treated as an external device. This means understanding when and how to engage with AI; and when to rely on instinct, empathy, or lived experience instead.
Such a mindset enables designers to navigate complex ethical terrains, manage hybrid creative processes and apply digital outputs within socially and environmentally responsible frameworks. In essence, the future designer is not just a maker of objects but a mediator between systems, communities and ideas.
Despite fears surrounding automation, the evidence suggests that AI is far more likely to enhance than replace the designer's role. It can increase speed, reduce error and expand imaginative possibilities — but it cannot replicate human intuition, moral judgement or emotional intelligence.
Designers remain responsible for defining intent, evaluating spatial impact and ensuring that every design outcome aligns with user needs and cultural contexts. AI supports these goals by providing data-enhanced visualisation, performance forecasting and interactive scenario planning — but only the designer can translate these tools into holistic spatial narratives.
What this evolution demands is not simply new technical skills, but a new design discourse — one that acknowledges the role of AI while reinforcing the value of the human voice. Moving from a binary view of "machine versus maker" to a more nuanced understanding of "machine with maker" empowers designers to claim agency within this digital transformation.
Ultimately, the success of AI in interior design depends on our ability to use it with purpose, reflection and care. It is not the tool that creates meaningful design, but the values, intentions and interpretations that the designer brings to it.
Dr Dina Mohamed Aboushall
Dr Dina is an Assistant Professor in Interior Design at Al Zahraa College for Women, Muscat, Oman