Should creatives worry about getting replaced by artificial intelligence? Far from it! In this engaging DLD25 panel discussion, moderated by Tim Brown (IDEO), startup founders Chloë Ryan (Acrylic Robotics) and Agi and Kor Kajanaku (OpenStudio) show how new technologies empower artists and designers, dismantling traditional barriers to creative expression.
Chloe Ryan’s company Acrylic Robotics addresses current limitations in the fine art market through painting robots. An artist herself, she became “very frustrated with a few things when trying to sell my artwork”, she explains. “It would take me weeks or sometimes months to make a particular piece, and then I would only be able to sell it to one person one time.”
Her solution? Robots that produce artworks based on human creativity. While the machines take over the manual labor, they still physically create each painting, one by one – a crucial difference to mass-produced posters and prints, Chloë Ryan makes clear.
Creative minds can also benefit from this approach when combined with generative AI tools. “Right now we can’t bring them to life in the way that art really is meant to be brought to life with physical materials”, she says. “I am very interested in: how can we bridge the gap between those new creation tools and physical art making?”
OpenStudio, meanwhile, focuses on AI as a collaborative design partner. Kor Kajanaku recalls his initial skepticism: “I refused it immediately”, he says, “and I told Agi everything I hated about it.”
But he soon realized that collaborating with AI allowed him “to move much faster”, he says. Together, Agi and Kor Kajanaku set out to build a tool that prioritizes intuitive, conversational design, blending human direction with machine execution. “We’re trying to put an entire design studio in the hands of every designer”, Kor Kajanaku explains.
The result is like being a kitchen chef and suddenly having a very able sous chef, he explains. “I think of image generators in general as like vending machines for food”, he says. In contrast, working with OpenStudio’s AI gives users a chance to “direct it in the way that you need” in order to create “that final work that you want to produce as a designer.”
Watch the video for details on the technology; insights on the ethics and future of AI in creativity; and the potential of brain-computer interfaces in art and design.
