Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 CCF Transactions on Pervasive Computing and Interaction https://doi.org/10.1007/s42486-020-00028-0 REGULAR PAPER Research on human–AI co‑creation based on refective design practice Zhiyong Fu 1  · Yuyao Zhou 1 Received: 6 June 2019 / Accepted: 5 January 2020 © China Computer Federation (CCF) 2020 Abstract Artifcial intelligence has appeared in every aspect of our life, whether it is a large number of data analysis and repetitive work, or the scanning recognition in life, AI has become an essential application technology. How humans and AI will coex- ist in the future is a thought-provoking question. The involvement of AI will lead to changes in design method and process, the designers and researchers need to conduct research on future designs from a new perspective. We selected the feld of design practice and put forward the concept of human–AI co-creation (HACC), aiming to study how AI can better design and create with people. We use ethnographic design research methods to summarize how teachers guide students in design practice, and summarize the normative vocabulary that AI guides students to use in experiments. Finally, we summarize the basic elements of HACC, and then use the “Wizard of OZ” method to simulate HACC experiment, and further improve the HACC model through video observation and data analysis. Keywords Human–AI · Co-creation · Artifcial intelligence · Design practice 1 Introduction Artifcial intelligence is currently the hottest area. While nurturing new technologies and new products, it is also driving changes in various industries. In the art of artifcial intelligence, robot art is the most direct, most expressive artistic medium, material and subject with visual arts advan- tages (Zhang 2018). Nowadays artifcial intelligent painting that an agent can paint strokes on a canvas in sequence to generate a painting that resembles the given target image. Some work has studied in teaching machines to learn paint- ing-related skills, such as sketch, doodle and write charac- ters (Huang 2019). Human–machine art has triggered our thinking about AI, showing the current state of human life through machines, and paying attention to the real living environment of people. It will also use “machine” to talk about the possibility of imagining the future, and to refect on reality, thus breaking the art description and refecting the real society. In the future, with the development of science and technology, we will gradually expand from the relation- ship of “harmony between man and nature” to the relation- ship of “man–machine integration”. The two relationships may develop in parallel or in combination. Man–machine integration is the ultimate spiritual concept of man–machine relationship and the state of subconscious integration between you and me (Zhang 2018). Whether most jobs will be replaced by artifcial intelli- gence in the future is also a heated topic. To achieve mutual enhancement between human and AI, both parties need to honor and realize each other’s full potential. In this pro- cess, the notion of “engagement” (Ma 2018) ofers a lens into the synergistic relationship between human users and AI technologies (Niksirat et al. 2018). Co-creation is more inclusive than engagement (Feldman 2017). In the future, human–machine relationship will become a new ecological relationship besides man and man, man and nature, so it is particularly important to formulate some norms or models. Because ML is becoming an increasingly commonplace fea- ture of new interactive systems, we should now expect UX designers to regularly instigate innovative products and ser- vices. They should be generating many new forms that have not been imagined by the engineers who focus on making the technology work (Dove et al. 2017). Therefore, the paper proposes the concept of human–AI co-creation (HACC), aiming to study how AI can better * Zhiyong Fu fuzhiyong@tsinghua.edu.cn Yuyao Zhou zhouyy17@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn 1 Department of Information Art and Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China