Let's Play with Generative AI: Speculative Collaging for Preposterous Futures

Generative AI (GenAI) holds promise for design but faces challenges, including limited idea divergence (Girotra et al., 2023). This workshop integrates human-AI collaboration (Figoli et al. 2022) within play design, following previous initiatives in DRS conferences e.g. (Feder and Gudiksen, 2022). We investigate speculative design through the lens of play (Kinch et al., 2024) and humor (Park and Shin, 2024). By leveraging collaging techniques, we explore AI as a design material (Bilstrup et al. 2022) that expands designers’ leaps of imagination rather than limits it.
Challenging traditional GenAI collaboration, we draw inspiration from Dadaism’s historic collage techniques, and explore its possibilities in a playful way, fostering divergent thinking (Gudiksen and Skovbjerg, 2020; Park and Shin, 2024). The aim is to enhance playful speculation in iterations with GenAI, expanding ideas into ludicrous, unintended, and humorous alternatives.