A study of GenAI usage by Design Students Analysis of Survey Results and Journals of AI practices at the Politecnico di Milano in 2025/2026
Computers and Society
Summary
The authors surveyed design students at Politecnico di Milano about their use of generative AI (GenAI) tools. They found that students use these tools mainly at the start of their projects but still feel they own and create their work themselves. The students keep AI journals showing they use GenAI in many ways but often check and improve the AI's results because they don't fully trust it. Overall, the authors conclude that students are thoughtfully trying out how GenAI can help in their creative design work.
Authors
Stefana Broadbent
Abstract
The results of a survey on the use of GenAI by the design students of the Politecnico di Milano raises major questions around the role of AI in the Design Process. A domain specific set of questions alongside the more general purpose probes about GenAI usage, delivers insights into the particular practices that are emerging in Design. The very high frequency of use of GenAI tools is concentrated in the initial stages of projects and does not affect the perception of project ownership or creativity. An analysis of AI journals kept by a class during research assignments confirms the range of AI supported activities but also the limited trust in GenAI leading to systematic individual and collective verification and augmentation of outputs. Together, the findings suggest that design students are reflectively experimenting with how GenAI tools can contribute to their creative design process.