Lecture
Introduction to generative AI and the course. We’ll define key AI concepts, trace the history of modern AI, explore how diffusion models and language models work, discuss where training data comes from, and examine how AI is changing creative practice. Students will set up the course tools and begin their semester-long Tool Journal.
The Brief
Week 1 is the one week with nothing to make. Most weeks pair a making task with a noticing task; this week you are only noticing.
Write honestly about where you actually stand with these tools right now. What do you use ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney or anything like them for in a normal week — school, work, writing, images, none of it? Be specific about the last few real times you reached for one and what you wanted out of it. If you don’t use them, say what has kept you away: suspicion, cost, boredom, an ethical objection, or never getting around to it. All answers are fine and none will be held against you. I want the honest version.
This is the first draft of a position you’ll revise all semester. Your Personal AI-Use Policy in Week 8 starts here and starts with how you currently use it.
In Class Assignment
- Join the class Slack and post a greeting in the 🔒aixdesign-fall2026 channel.
- Go to the Class Journal Notion page and read through the How to Use this Journal page.
- Duplicate My Process Journal and share the link to it in the 🔒aixdesign-fall2026 Slack channel.
Homework
- Where you stand right now: what you actually use these tools for in a normal week, or what has kept you away. 300–400 words, your own voice, as a Week 1 entry in your Submissions database
- Audit an ordinary week of your own life: every place an AI system shaped it. What does it decide, what must it know about you, and did you choose it or did it just arrive? Go deeper on the three that surprised you. This will be your Week 1 Tool Journal entry.