Inspirational Stimuli to Support Creative Ideation for the Design of AI-powered Products

Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize product design, and designers need to know how to best leverage its capabilities. Based on the concept–knowledge (C-K) theory, a set of inspirational stimuli (IS) for the design of AI-powered products (ISfAI) has been developed to contribute to the conceptual design stage. We extracted 40 ISs from 1,755 granted AI patents using a five-step process and validated their feasibility through a controlled experiment using three design aids: brainstorming, ISfAI Sheet, and ISfAI Cards. Results suggest that the ISfAI Cards can serve as a creative tool to enabling practitioners to generate a greater range of high-quality AI-powered ideas, particularly in terms of Novelty, Creativity, Elaboration and Flexibility. This study has practical implications for developing AI-powered products and services.