A solution seeking a problem

Kyoto based pottery studio Asahiyaki uses ~1000 pieces from its 400 year collection to train an neural network to generate new ideas for pottery pieces. Interesting but I can’t help but notice the affect on the design process as described by Matsubayashi Hosai the studio director.

Usually I think of use cases, then come up with a suitable design. This time the design came first. Then I came up with interesting uses. I consider possible situations where it would fit. – Matsubayashi Hosai

Watch the full episode on the NHK website, timestamp 00:11:00.

I’ve written about the over-enthusiasm of adding generative AI in product design before.