Artificial intelligence as (meta-)art? Emergent technologies in the design process

Over the past decades, philosophy-of-science scholars have been questioning the epistemology of automated data analysis. Coming to the field of artif icial intelligence application in the design process, the debate has been less intense and articulate. The interest in developing a disciplinary discussion refers to the proactive quality of design, which aims at introducing artifacts into the physical world through the act of shaping, which includes a process of context interpretation. By acknowledging that the environment and its interpretation are inextricably bound to the design process, and by questioning the epistemology of automated analytics, we ask if artificial intelligence is not an aesthetic device producing outcomes that are a form of (meta-)art. Our hypothesis is that the models for automated data analysis do not satisfy the need for objectivity often expected through the application of parametric design because of their biases. However, as an aesthetic interpretation of a place, they inspire designers and stimulate their interpretation in the framework of the hermeneutic process of design, indicating an evolution toward a renewed “new-humanism,” a rediscovery of the creative agency of the designer in an un-hierarchical relationship with nature.