This talk will introduce Design Research and use examples to explain why it may be the one of the most profound tools we have to temper our rapidly changing relationships with Artificial Intelligence.



The world is more complex than it ever has been before. Socio-technological assemblages made up of humanity and technology (and often involving the Internet of Things, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence) are a driver of this complexity. Meanwhile the pace of technology-based change is ever increasing. We have made a brand-new world, one which is complex, fast, globalised, digital, unequal, and technological. Hence, we need brand-new methods to help us understand that world. The question is what methods are suitable to respond to 21st century complexity? In this talk I will argue that one of the best answers is Design Research.



In making this point I will explore several additional questions: What is Design Research? How do you do it? What are its limitations? Can we design our way out of (or into) an AI apocalypse? Who is the ghost in the smart home? Is un oeuf really enough? What is it like to live with a senile robot? In answering these questions, and drawing on a range of examples, I will demonstrate some of the roles that Design Research can play in contemporary studies of Philosophy, Sociology, Ethics and Human-Computer Interaction.