The Alibaba Disruption to the Designer World
An interview from the ground with Min Wang
Min Wang is Professor at China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, and Vice Chair of CAFA’s Academic Committee. He is also council member of Creative Economy, World Economic Forum. And he was the Design Director for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Committee. He is also a partner of De Boer & Wang Studio in Shanghai. In short: a big shot on the planet of design.
What does AI mean in China?
In China, they often mess up AI with automation, with automated working and manufacturing processes. That is not AI. AI is when machines start learning. When machines start learning by themselves from data and then come out with intelligent solutions for parts of our lives. That’s good for society. Having said that: AI will also eat many jobs as we know them now.
That’s a loud & clear definition. And yes, the Future of Work is a challenging subject. You are leading experts in design, both at universities and in business. In China and abroad. What about design and AI?
Alibaba is leading ahead in it. But the other BATs, Baidu and Tencent, are always close in every matter, so I estimate here too. Alibaba is now capable of sending well-designed promotional messages, banners if you wish, to very many people, fully individualized. Not only the content but also the design is individualized. Fifteen million differentiated promotional messages per day. The design program is AI-led and called Luban.
We know already that online commercial messages are becoming astonishingly customized — what content works best for each specific individual? What communication style will be most appreciated and involving? What promotional offer is optimal for success? What the best time of day for each specific individual to receive the message? But now with Luban the message will be customized even further. What letter type works best? What typeface? What forms and designs? What colors, what imagery? For each and every specific one of us. All the solutions will be AI-generated. Machines that do not only process enormous amounts of data but also learn more and more from it while doing so. That is deep learning and I think that we, China, as a country are in the lead. Somewhere in the not too far future these deep learning design systems will know how to approach you with the perfect combination of message and content, look and feel, argument and emotion — at the right time, at the right moment, in the right mood. And as a consequence: utterly personalized. Of course, huge amounts of data will be needed for perfection learning. But we are generating these huge amounts right now, and once again: China in the first place. We are working towards this stage. Right now humans still have more imaginative powers than the machine does. I personally feel humans will stay inconvincible.
Nice feeling about invincible humans. But your argument — AI led super personalized design solutions, right time, right place right mood 24/7/365 — seem to point into the other direction
I am aware of that. AI will be disruptive. Not only in the production of design by Luban-like machines. But equally on the designer work floor. Many traditional designer tasks will be eliminated by AI-led regimes. As said, Luban already creates 15 million communication designs on a daily basis. Created by human designers it would cost say 100 RMB (15 dollars) for each design to finish. Now only 15 to 20 engineers are feeding the Luban machine. AI will give traditional designers super hard times. It will go step by step.
First simple design jobs will be taken over by AI and automatically produced. Like business cards, letterheads, brochures. After that, the logo design will be taken over. Say you need a logo that starts with an A. AI can collect much more efficiently and effectively all the ‘A’-designs that are roaming around in the Internet universe. Millions of ‘A’-solutions already can be mined, isn’t it? Type in some key characteristics of the company you work for, or its whole mission statement, and the machine will sort out the best ‘A’-solution — ever more perfectly mixing designs with the values, ambition, and likeability of the company plus the collective moods of its relevant target groups in society. The machine will collect and understand these collective moods better and broader than any human being or designer.
This logic does not only apply for logo designing but also broader: for all packaging design. Designing forms and imageries might be the last spaces were human designers can hold position towards Luban-like machines and show their powers. But also on this dimension, the machines will attempt an attack. Certain parts of the human designer imagination will never be replaced, I hope and feel and think. Humans amongst each other are so magically different and unique. Will machines ever be able to create even more appealing ‘uniquenesses’?
What in your recent global designer world has seriously ‘wowed’ you?
Alibaba’s Luban seriously has wowed me. Not only because it is already showing its power and teeth but also because of its future growth potential. Right now we only perceive Luban’s baby teeth.
Another wow-moment. Recently CCTV, our national television, made a TV-program in which human designers and machine designers competed for who would deliver the better product. According to a seriously prestigious committee of judges: Machine Won.
About the author:
Prof. Dr. Carl Rohde is an international keynote speaker about ‘Future forecasting & Innovation’ — with academic depth and practical realism. During the last decade, he worked with 50 universities and over 10,000 students. Aim: to make all involve more trends- and innovation sensitive. Rohde has research positions in Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Shanghai. Carl Rohde also leads www.scienceofthetime.com, a virtual network of market and trend researchers worldwide.
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