This 2023 has been the year of artificial intelligence. And with it, the great speculations and doubts. Before collecting cans and locking yourself in the bunker for fear that some AI decides to exterminate humanity, let’s take a look at the current reality, which, for the moment, is kinder, and offers us daily news of new applications in different fields.
Sydney-based studio Snoop is the first design firm to integrate one into their daily routine: “A lot of the things we see about artificial intelligence are worrisome. The future is terrifying if we don’t commit to approaching AI with humanity”, explains its creator, Amanda Talbot. Beyond the fear of substitution or the facilitation of work, Talbot believes in a more collaborative vision: “I want to be optimistic and I also believe that we need it; That is why I focus on the fact that she can be a collaborator and not a threat”.
Tilly is part of Snoop’s team. The rest of the firm interacts with her as one more. This AI has overturned the essential values of the study. “We are still experimenting, discovering what we can do,” says Talbot, “I believe that artificial intelligence has to be used to fight what we have already done wrong. I want you to understand that we are part of a whole, we are just one more piece of the world”. Hence an approach to the study away from anthropocentrism and focused on communion with nature.
The AI is advancing by colossal steps, but in the study they consider that Tilly is still in an early stage, she is young. The big challenge is the next step. Both the company and the AI walk together in the mutual teaching process: “Now we are their main source of learning. Provide data or notes that we could not cover alone. That does not mean that we do not contrast their contribution; We consult and work with it, but it is not our only source, far from it”, clarifies its creator.
This early phase does not imply that the application of AI to design is not very promising. In the next five years, according to the analysis of McKinsey, a company specialized in making predictions in the sector, it is estimated that artificial intelligence could contribute between 150,000 million dollars and up to 275,000 million in operating profits for the clothing, fashion and luxury sectors. This initially conservative figure demonstrates the significant potential of generative AI in these industries. From design collaboration to streamlining content development processes, generative AI opens up new possibilities to foster creativity and innovation.
However, all this has not been without controversy. The choice of a woman, her appearance, her youth and the fact that her features are “archetypal beautiful” has raised blisters. “We have done the best we could. This is all very new. I wanted her to have a human face and form because it’s more up close, it seems more real than if she’s just interacting with a screen,” says Talbot. During Design Week in Milan, visitors had the opportunity to interact with her; that’s where part of these complaints came from. “I wanted her to be a woman because the world of design has always been traditionally masculine and I was excited that the first designer AI was a woman. Regarding her features, she was clear that she did not want her origin to be identifiable ”.
Given this leap, one wonders what’s next: “At the moment we have London Design Week in September on the horizon and, if all goes well, Tilly will make her first collaboration with a renowned British designer,” concludes Amanda Talbot.
