Hybrid Human-AI Co-Creation in Design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23726/cij.2026.1857Keywords:
Co-Creation, Human-AI collaboration, Participatory design, Distributed agency, Design methodsAbstract
Human-AI co-creation is often inferred whenever artificial intelligence participates in creative work. Yet computational participation alone does not establish co-creation: agency, authorship, initiative and responsibility remain negotiated throughout the design process. The study examines such negotiation through a focused model-building synthesis of thirteen publications and a structured online questionnaire completed by sixteen design professionals. Retrospective cross-source analysis identified recurring patterns of computational participation and consolidated five situated AI roles, Synthesizer, Expander, Reframer, Evaluator and Co-Performer, alongside four boundary conditions: instrumental, overlapping, contested and unclassified participation. Empirical patterns located AI-supported activity primarily in research, ideation and development, while perceived control remained predominantly human-led. These findings informed the Integrated Hybrid Co-Creation Framework (IHCF), which connects design stage, enacted role, initiative distribution, recursive interaction and governance within a single process-oriented structure. Rather than treating AI roles as fixed system properties, the IHCF conceptualises co-creation as a relational configuration that emerges through situated interaction. The resulting distinction between co-creative participation and bounded computational support provides a clearer basis for analysing agency, authorship and responsibility in hybrid design practice.
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