The Futuring Design Education 2024 conference aimed to discuss, reflect and debate the evolving pedagogical aspects of Design in the context of socio-cultural and technological changes.

The landscape of Design in India is very unique due to India's craft and cultural heritage, indigenous design knowledge. India is also now promoting Make in India, Design in India, the Design challenges are immense and the future of design seems to be multifaceted for which the design pedagogy need to strengthen itself for the future. The conference invites papers in the areas of Design teaching and learning from the perspectives of technology, culture and heritage.

My paper titled "Revolutionizing Design Education: AI-Powered Design-Thinking for Tomorrow's Innovators" was under the Track A: Design Knowledge Transformation

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the imperative to equip students with the skills necessary for success in a rapidly changing world is paramount. Among these skills, innovation and design thinking stand out as critical competencies. To this end, this paper unveils a pioneering approach aimed at fostering innovation and design thinking among students through the integration of Design-Thinking (DT) and User-Centered Design Process (UCD) activities, facilitated by the remarkable capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI). The objective is to not only enhance collaboration but also usher in data-driven decision-making at an accelerated pace, ultimately spurring greater adoption of these vital skills.

The central premise of this proposed approach is to explore the potential of AI as a facilitator and collaborator in the realm of design-thinking, with a specific focus on expediting the decision-making process through data-driven insights through AI models. The innovative concept has been rigorously tested through the development of an AI-powered whiteboard software harnessing OpenAI's APIs and a bespoke machine learning model, tailored to user-profile data management. This cutting-edge software was then deployed in a real-world scenario where a group of users engaged in a Design-Thinking session, thereby gauging its effectiveness in augmenting the design process.