Abstract
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is a fundamentally hauntological technology. This paper interrogates that character of contemporary AI systems and explores why this feature undermines the goals of design research. We argue the need for an exorcism of GenAI, or at least a constructive rebellion against the ghosts it systematically produces. GenAI is convergence-driven and nuance-averse. It aims for reasonableness as a first-order output. Its training data reflects a profound anthropocentrism that extinguishes plurality. As a result, GenAI accelerates the foreclosure of possible worlds by preferentially reproducing that which is statistically probable and culturally dominant. By contrast, design relies upon idiosyncrasy, rupture, serendipity, and the cultivation of plurality. In short, the very qualities systematically eroded by the probabilistic logic of generative systems. Through a lens of glitch feminism, we propose error, derangement, and an enthusiastic embrace of the uncomputable as resistance strategies to retain what is fundamentally human within inhuman systems.
Keywords
genAI, design research, hauntology, glitch feminism
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.786
Citation
Heron, M., Aune, K., Gamboa, M., Thunberg, S., Hashmati, N., and Belford, P. (2026) The Hauntology of Generative AI in Design, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.786
Creative Commons License
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Included in
The Hauntology of Generative AI in Design
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is a fundamentally hauntological technology. This paper interrogates that character of contemporary AI systems and explores why this feature undermines the goals of design research. We argue the need for an exorcism of GenAI, or at least a constructive rebellion against the ghosts it systematically produces. GenAI is convergence-driven and nuance-averse. It aims for reasonableness as a first-order output. Its training data reflects a profound anthropocentrism that extinguishes plurality. As a result, GenAI accelerates the foreclosure of possible worlds by preferentially reproducing that which is statistically probable and culturally dominant. By contrast, design relies upon idiosyncrasy, rupture, serendipity, and the cultivation of plurality. In short, the very qualities systematically eroded by the probabilistic logic of generative systems. Through a lens of glitch feminism, we propose error, derangement, and an enthusiastic embrace of the uncomputable as resistance strategies to retain what is fundamentally human within inhuman systems.