The impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) on our daily lives became evident shortly after its emergence. The growth of this technology is expected to accelerate further, as illustrated in our recent blog post covering AI predictions for 2024.  

In product design and development, the use of generative AI is the subject of numerous discussions. The potential to speed up development processes and foster innovative solutions is weighed against concerns about quality and ethical responsibility. So, we decided to undertake a practical self-test to determine which prevails: the benefits or the risks.  

The results provide an insightful perspective on the opportunities and challenges of AI in product development, addressing questions like:

• To what extent does artificial intelligence influence the product development and design process?
• What potential does it have in terms of speed, efficiency, quality or creativity?
• Where do potential risks lie?

Keep reading to discover our findings. 

In our self-test, seven designers and engineers were given a practical design briefing to create a product concept with an associated value proposition. The briefing was based on a real-life customer scenario to maximise the test's relevance. Besides developing first-generation headphones according to customer design guidelines, the briefing included specific details on technology, target audience, personas, requirements, and time expenditure.

Six participants had access to various AI bots but were limited to one hour of processing time. The seventh participant opted out of using AI bots, acquiring significantly more time to pursue the traditional route.  

‘The product concepts generated by AI were innovative and convincing at first glance. However, textual and visual inconsistencies became apparent upon closer inspection.’

The initial results were astonishing. The AI-supported concepts, developed within just 60 minutes, appeared innovative and convincing at first glance: people and headphones were shown in a hyper-realistic visualisation, well-lit, and realistically textured, with no signs of stylistic or content uniformity.

This underscores once again: AI alone cannot replace the years of expertise and finesse of an experienced designer, but it can provide support. In our test, the customer-specific requirements were better met with the traditional approach, integrating the product into the customer's existing product world, translating brand values into the product, and making iterative improvements. 

Our field test further underscores that artificial intelligence will not replace the traditional product development process. Instead, AI is a support tool to enhance it. 

Ultimately, it's the combination of AI, quality data, expert operation, competent evaluation, and further processing of outputs that enables designers and product developers to optimise processes or outsource entire tasks. 

For example, simple, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks can be automated and completed faster with the help of AI. In the area of data-based research, AI is already significantly superior to traditional methods. 

The collaboration between humans and AI offers enormous potential to scale and accelerate design and development processes, save resources and costs, foster creativity, and enhance the customer focus of products. The right mix of AI and human expertise is crucial for successful product development in the future. 

Zühlke has extensive experience in industrial design and product development. Together with our clients, we leverage new technologies and trends to create innovative products and solutions. So, if you’re thinking about creating a new product or need help with an existing project – don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. We look forward to hearing from you.