Abstract
With the growing integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into creative workflows, AI tools increasingly function as co-creators. This transition challenges traditional notions of authorship, originality, and creative agency. This paper introduces "ethical friction": intentional design interventions that prompt users to reflect on the ethical dimensions of their creative decisions. Our central inquiry is: "What design mechanisms can support ethical reflection during creative work without overburdening or moralizing the user experience?". This question is underscored by the need to understand how AI-generated suggestions influence user decision-making and creative direction, both consciously and unconsciously, and how current generative systems may obscure or redistribute authorship, with significant implications for accountability. Drawing inspiration from pragmatist ethics, particularly John Dewey's work, I advocate for a design approach emphasizing reflection, context, and iterative ethical decision-making. Our main contribution is a set of design principles for integrating friction, transparency, and choice architecture into creative tools. Complementing this, I offer scenarios of the design principles in action and discuss ethical challenges in AI-augmented creativity from a designer’s perspective. This work is intended for researchers, designers, practitioners, policymakers, and educators interested in the responsible deployment of AI in creative industries.
Keywords
Ethics; Generative Artificial Intelligence; Human-Computer Interaction; Ethical Artificial Intelligence; Design; Interaction Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.424
Citation
Dalsgaard, P.(2025) Designing for Ethical Friction: Reclaiming Agency and Accountability in AI-Supported Creativity, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.424
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 4 - Human-Centered AI
Designing for Ethical Friction: Reclaiming Agency and Accountability in AI-Supported Creativity
With the growing integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into creative workflows, AI tools increasingly function as co-creators. This transition challenges traditional notions of authorship, originality, and creative agency. This paper introduces "ethical friction": intentional design interventions that prompt users to reflect on the ethical dimensions of their creative decisions. Our central inquiry is: "What design mechanisms can support ethical reflection during creative work without overburdening or moralizing the user experience?". This question is underscored by the need to understand how AI-generated suggestions influence user decision-making and creative direction, both consciously and unconsciously, and how current generative systems may obscure or redistribute authorship, with significant implications for accountability. Drawing inspiration from pragmatist ethics, particularly John Dewey's work, I advocate for a design approach emphasizing reflection, context, and iterative ethical decision-making. Our main contribution is a set of design principles for integrating friction, transparency, and choice architecture into creative tools. Complementing this, I offer scenarios of the design principles in action and discuss ethical challenges in AI-augmented creativity from a designer’s perspective. This work is intended for researchers, designers, practitioners, policymakers, and educators interested in the responsible deployment of AI in creative industries.