Abstract
AI uncertainty has been proposed as a design material that provides practitioners with a foothold to engage with technical attributes of these technologies beyond any given output. However, it is unclear what role AI uncertainty can play in tangible product design processes. In this paper, we investigate this through two design research projects following a studio methodology; combining first-person reflective making with autoethnographic elements, incorporating a variety of AI technologies (e.g., object detection, image and video generation, mesh extraction). Through the analysis of these first-person accounts and reflection on design processes and outcomes, we find qualitatively different types of uncertainties manifesting across design methods and materialisation. As our contributions, we present (1) methodological and practice-oriented insights on the potential of specific affordances of AI uncertainty for tangible product design and (2) a discussion of the value of employing hands-on, studio-type design research in the aftermath of generative AI.
Keywords
AI uncertainty, creative practice, studio methodology, tangible products
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1288
Citation
Theelen, S., Talamini, G., Op het Veld, R., Sparidans, D., Benjamin, J.J., and Wensveen, S. (2026) Uncertainty in the studio: AI as a material in the design of tangible products, 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.2026.1288
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Uncertainty in the studio: AI as a material in the design of tangible products
AI uncertainty has been proposed as a design material that provides practitioners with a foothold to engage with technical attributes of these technologies beyond any given output. However, it is unclear what role AI uncertainty can play in tangible product design processes. In this paper, we investigate this through two design research projects following a studio methodology; combining first-person reflective making with autoethnographic elements, incorporating a variety of AI technologies (e.g., object detection, image and video generation, mesh extraction). Through the analysis of these first-person accounts and reflection on design processes and outcomes, we find qualitatively different types of uncertainties manifesting across design methods and materialisation. As our contributions, we present (1) methodological and practice-oriented insights on the potential of specific affordances of AI uncertainty for tangible product design and (2) a discussion of the value of employing hands-on, studio-type design research in the aftermath of generative AI.