AI-Enabled Design Tools: Current Trends and Future Possibilities

We are witnessing a growing trend in the development of AI-enabled design tools. Some of these are already focussing on improving and replacing design activities. This field is so recent and fermenting that it lacks a state of the art. Thus, we created a preliminary overview by searching and systematizing current AI-enabled design tools. To do so, we collected and mapped the distribution of existing/under-development design tools on the design process. It emerged that only a few AI applications have taken hold in design so far, and many others only exist as research or concepts. Our study highlights how current AI-enabled design tools cover mostly the ideation and development phases, uncovering areas where AI can be leveraged to augment the design process. Finally, it shows what types of AI applications are currently being adopted in design-related activities, paving the way for the investigation of unexplored opportunities.