Abstract
Research on AI and Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) often reflects a static, object-centered perspective. This paper instead explores how generative AI can be embedded in the living practices of ICH. Through a speculative intervention in a Huayao embroidery community in Hunan, China, we reframe AI not as a tool for content generation, but as a social mediator within local craft networks. By performing as an “AI Cross-stitch Pattern Merchant” during the local festival, the study reveals how AI’s creative empowerment of young women sparked intergenerational tensions around legitimacy, labor, and authority. While youth embraced GenAI for playful self-expression, elder embroiderers judged its outputs by communal aesthetics and moral hierarchies, revealing the moral economy shaping creative legitimacy. These dynamics show how after-AI practices can unsettle the domestication of women’s creativity in heritage. We argue for a shift from generation to negotiation, toward socially embedded and relational AI practices in ICH.
Keywords
Intangible Cultural Heritage, Design Anthropology, Speculative Intervention, Relational AI
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1403
Citation
Li, H., Zhang, D., Chen, S., and Bryan-Kinns, N. (2026) The In-situ AI Pattern Merchant: A Speculative Intervention in Huayao Embroidery Futures, 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.2026.1403
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The In-situ AI Pattern Merchant: A Speculative Intervention in Huayao Embroidery Futures
Research on AI and Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) often reflects a static, object-centered perspective. This paper instead explores how generative AI can be embedded in the living practices of ICH. Through a speculative intervention in a Huayao embroidery community in Hunan, China, we reframe AI not as a tool for content generation, but as a social mediator within local craft networks. By performing as an “AI Cross-stitch Pattern Merchant” during the local festival, the study reveals how AI’s creative empowerment of young women sparked intergenerational tensions around legitimacy, labor, and authority. While youth embraced GenAI for playful self-expression, elder embroiderers judged its outputs by communal aesthetics and moral hierarchies, revealing the moral economy shaping creative legitimacy. These dynamics show how after-AI practices can unsettle the domestication of women’s creativity in heritage. We argue for a shift from generation to negotiation, toward socially embedded and relational AI practices in ICH.