MSD and IBM shaping together the future of Gen-AI in Service Design

We’re proud to announce a new, strategic collaboration between the Specializing Master in Service Design by POLI.design – Politecnico di Milano and IBM, marking the beginning of a pioneering collaboration in the fast evolving landscape of Generative Artificial Intelligence.

#Gen-AI is disrupting services, experiences, and how we envision and design them. In the last couple of years, it underwent a profound evolution, redefining its role both inside organizations and in the design processes. We’re now at the corner point – the Gen-AI “adoption phase” – and as designers we need to redefine our roles and workflows to manage and exploit Gen-AI’s full potential.

#AI won’t replace designers, but designers who use AI (well) will replace those who don’t.

This is the vision that IBM and MSD want to pursue with their collaboration, which therefore revolves around four key objectives:

– Educate future service designers to familiarize themselves with, be confident in, and effectively use currently available Gen-AI systems;

– Provide them with the foundations for developing a critical sense and conscious use of such tools for the future;

– Test, evaluate, and refine IBM Gen-AI systems used in the specific service design context;

– Contribute to the innovation of service design processes and the development of a more mature and conscious human + non-human design culture.

Davide Ferraris, Strategy & Transformation Offering Leader and MSD Faculty Member, says about the collaboration:

“As with all technologies, the challenge posed by GenAI is, first and foremost, a human one. On this level, as designers, we carry a profound responsibility: AI is both a tool or, even better, a teammate to accelerate and enhance our creative processes, and an integral part of the products and services we design. This is a liminal moment, allowing us to rethink the creative process while remaining aware of the risks hidden between generative variability and creative homogeneity.
IBM and POLI.design have long been committed to pushing the boundaries of research, innovation, and design, and I cannot imagine a more effective partnership to navigate this pivotal transformation. Because while it is true that AI will not replace designers, I firmly believe that designers who learn to use it responsibly and systematically will replace those who do not.”