Reflective AI
A Slow Technology Approach for Design Education
Vera van der Burg (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Gijs de Boer (Design Academy of Eindhoven)
Jesse Joshua Benjamin (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Brett A. Halperin (University of Washington)
A.A. Akdag Salah (Universiteit Utrecht)
R.S.K. Chandrasegaran (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
P.A. Lloyd (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
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Abstract
The proliferation of efficiency-focused AI tools in creative processes threatens to undermine critical, reflective practices foundational to design education. This approach can lead to creativity exhaustion and diminished agency among designers and students. As an antidote, we propose Reflective AI: an approach grounded in slow technology principles that reframes AI not as a production tool, but as a medium for reflecting on the creative process itself. This paper presents the Objective Portrait Workshop where design students engaged in slowed data collection, annotation, and model finetuning. Our contribution is threefold: we (1) document a methodology for implementing Reflective AI in design education; (2) provide empirical evidence that slow engagement cultivates reflection on creative processes and technical understanding of AI; and (3) propose material and temporal disentanglement as core mechanisms for Reflective AI practice. This work offers a practical alternative to “fast” AI, providing methodology that cultivates critical capabilities essential to design.
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