The Role of Designers in Human–AI Collaborative Design: Capturing the New Patterns in AI4UX Framework

With rapid advancements yet ongoing debate, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping the design field. This paper explores how AI impacts various aspects of user experience (UX) design, from creative tasks to research activities. To clarify and analyze these developments, the paper introduces the AI4UX framework, which captures the complex relationship and multiple scenarios between design practitioners and AI. This framework highlights the dual role of GenAI as both a material and a tool, examining its implications in creative design and research contexts. Through the AI4UX lens, we further explore how to view and assess the integration of GenAI into UX design, with both the opportunities and challenges it presents. First, GenAI is explored as a design material, with a focus on end-users’ perceptions of intelligence. Next, we highlight the importance of protecting human creativity when AI is used as a design tool. For researchers, the need for meaningful transparency is emphasized when using AI as a research tool. We also discuss GenAI’s potential as an intelligent evaluation agent in supplementing real users. Following this, we consider the future possibilities of AI-empowered UX research. Lastly, based on the AI4UX framework, we explored the heightened competency requirements for design practitioners in the era of AI, aiming to capture emerging design paradigms. This framework provides a foundation for understanding how the design industry and academia adapt to these transformations. We aim to empower design students and practitioners to better understand how to navigate AI’s evolving role in design, while ensuring the core principle of human-centered design is consistently upheld.