Design Magazine AXIS Vol.227 on Sale December 28 !

Feature
A future shaped by design and AI

Generative AI was the biggest topic in terms of technological innovation in 2023, and it will perhaps remain a major subject in 2024 as well. Perhaps due to its impact, discussions tended to focus either on its "omnipotence" or "threat." Nevertheless, as users of the tool have actually increased and it has been applied in various fields ncluding politics, economy, and culture, such barren and simple debates are diminishing. The line between "what AI is good at" and "what AI isn't so good at" is gradually becoming clearer. For this featured topic, we explored realistic possibilities in AI from the perspectives of design and creativity. In other words, we explored "how to handle AI in a friendly and casual way." As the experts appearing here all have a thorough commandof AI, they are fully versed in its latest capacity and limits. As to the people and organizations we interviewed, we chose enterprises and designers that make use of AI while keeping their feet on the ground and avoiding impractical plans. In addition, generative AI is also used in the design for this issue of AXIS Magazine.While rejecting excessive optimism or pessimism, we hope you enjoy this feature put together with a modest hope for a future generated by design and AI.

Preparing for an era of acceleration in generative AI in 2024
"How do you live and design ?"

Generative AI advanced dramatically in 2023 and topics regarding AI monopolized the scenes in various sectors. How will this great wave transform our work and society? Architect Keisuke Toyoda who is a Project Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, designs, produces things and conducts research while actively incorporating computational design into architecture, products, city planning, and fashion. Interaction designer Takayuki Fukatsu, on the other hand, was one of the first to make practical use of generative AI while exploring its nature and possibilities. The two discussed the future of design to come transcending fields.

Accelerating Ideation: How Stability.AI's generative AI is Embraced by Creators and Businesses

Stability.AI is a leading open-source generative AI company in the world. To delve into the generative AI developed by Stability.AI, esteemed among professional creators and businesses, we spoke with Mr. Makoto Shing, who leads the development of multimodal models such as the Japanese version of Stable Diffusion while introducing how the acclaimed work Syn : A New Horizon of Bodily Senses by Rhizomatiks utilized Stability.Audio technology.

What kind of future do we want to create？―Human creativity questioned by generative AI

"Will AI take our jobs?" "Can AI create things from scratch?" These are arguments that have increased in proportion to the diffusion of generative AI. If one is bound by these questions, you will lose sight of the essence of the arguments surrounding the human being and AI. We talked to Satoshi Kurihara, Professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, who asks such questions about AI, about AI's creativity and ethics surrounding it.

Exploring virtual spaces through the lens of architects in the AI era

In an era where architects are expanding their ideas through generative AI, there's a burgeoning trend of bringing to fruition in real-world spaces what has been envisioned n virtual domains. Concurrently, the application of generative AI is also progressing in less glamourized aspects of architectural processes. Delving into specific cases, an exhibition in Vienna offers insights into how architects in the AI era interpret virtual spaces.

INSIGHT
Roads not Taken
A new perspective revealing history

From the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, Nazism, The Great Depression, November Revolution, to the March Revolution, which was Germany's first democratization movement. A unique historical exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin is looking back at 150 years of German history from the 19th to the 20th century, challenging historical reality with a perspective on alternative courses in history. The project leader and exhibition design team uncover everything from concept to exhibition design.