Human–AI co-creation in art, design and architecture education: a nature-inspired minimalist design approach

The widespread use of AI technologies in education necessitates the development of new pedagogical approaches in creative disciplines. This study presents an innovative educational model for second-year students at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture to integrate generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools into their creative design processes. Various text- and image-based generative artificial intelligence tools, such as DALL-E, Midjourney, ChatGPT, Gemini, Deep Dream Generator, Bing Image Creator, Stable Diffusion, Gencraft, and Adobe Firefly, were used in the course. Over a 14-week period, students developed nature-inspired minimalist designs through text-to-image (T2I) and image-to-image (I2I) generative models. The course structure offered a multi-stage learning experience, including the transmission of theoretical concepts, prompt engineering, conceptual analysis, visual production, and digital interpretation. The pre-test and post-test data showed significant improvements in students' knowledge and attitudes towards artificial intelligence tools. The practices carried out by interdisciplinary groups revealed that each department interprets AI differently, in line with its own aesthetic and production dynamics. In this context, the study proposes a unique and replicable teaching model that integrates generative artificial intelligence technologies with art and design education and strengthens the role of digital literacy in creative education.