"Cultivating judgement in the age of generative AI: the contribution of Design"
Tuesday, 20 October 2026 · Eina Bosc · 11.00 am – 2.00 pm, followed by lunch
At a historical moment when intelligence is no longer exclusively human and generative artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the way we learn, conduct research and produce knowledge, the central question is no longer what AI is, but rather how we want to live alongside it and what forms of intelligence we wish to cultivate collectively.
The opening event for Eina's 2026–2027 academic year shifts the focus away from technological fascination towards a question that lies at the heart of design: the cultivation of judgement. Faced with tools capable of generating texts, images and solutions almost instantaneously, what truly distinguishes us is no longer our ability to produce information, but our capacity to interpret, contextualise, select, connect and make informed decisions.
From this perspective, the event will explore the distinctive contribution that design—and, in particular, Eina's pedagogical and research tradition—can make to knowledge production in the age of AI. Rather than viewing design as a field threatened by these technologies, it will consider how design methodologies, practice-based research, material thinking and experimental processes can become valuable resources for education, research and other fields of knowledge affected by new forms of cognitive automation.
The emergence of generative AI also raises important challenges for learning processes. How can we prevent the constant delegation of tasks from diminishing critical thinking and intellectual autonomy? Which teaching methodologies can transform these disruptions into opportunities for learning? In this context, design emerges as a particularly relevant practice because of its ability to engage with complexity, uncertainty and situated judgement.
The event takes as its conceptual framework the idea of situated AI: an approach that contrasts the global, invisible and delocalised logic of digital infrastructures with the many forms of intelligence that emerge from bodies, places and communities. The memory of territories, ecosystems, artistic practices, perception, materiality and shared knowledge are presented as spaces from which to rethink our relationship with technology.
This perspective is closely aligned with Eina's tradition of critical and interdisciplinary thinking, with Barcelona's cultural and urban context, and with its work on design for the ecosocial transition and sustainable futures. The aim is not to compete in engineering or technological development, but to contribute, through the distinctive tools of design, to imagining more convivial, democratic and emancipatory ways of engaging with artificial intelligence.
Ultimately, the event proposes understanding design not merely as a discipline capable of using AI, but above all as a practice capable of cultivating judgement, empowering students and educators, and contributing to a more conscious, situated and collectively shaped technological culture.
Proceedings