Integrating artificial intelligence in strategic design education: empirical evidence from design courses

The rapid adoption of AI tools is transforming educational practices, particularly in Strategic Design, which demand complex problem framing and strategic decision-making. This study examines AI's impact on Strategic Design education through a course experiment where students developed strategic directions for real companies via established process phases. A post-course survey (N=50) assessed AI usage and perceived utility across phases, combining quantitative (Likert-scale) and qualitative measures. Results reveal AI's highest utility in early analytical phases (company description, market/competitor analysis, trend exploration, target identification), where it accelerates information retrieval and synthesis as a cognitive amplifier, without supplanting interpretive roles. Utility declines in generative phases (opportunity definition, scenario construction, selection), where human judgment, critical thinking, and strategic framing remain essential. Findings advocate explicit AI literacy, critical evaluation, and metacognitive training in design curricula, repositioning AI as an augmentative resource contingent on students' problem-framing and output-assessment skills. This approach cultivates designers balancing human reasoning with AI support in complex strategic processes.