Baudrillard and AI: A project-based case study of simulacra as a predictor and facilitator of AI generation in South African design curricula.

The impact of AI on art and design - Original Research

Abstract

In a world of generative AI (gAI), we are observing a trend in design education (and practice) that mimics something akin to Jean Baudrillard’s (1988c) “hyperreal simulacra”. His is a world governed by simulacra, whereby we interact with visuals stripped of conceptual references. We are seduced by a code-like, visually oversaturated world flooded with hyper-mediated simulations of meaning. In this paper, I propose that he has predicted, fairly accurately, a form of contemporary “simulacra” – our current reality where meaning is fleeting and is increasingly pervaded by gAI signs (imagery, video, writing, and so on). I comment on Baudrillard’s simulacra as a predictor and facilitator of gAI by means of a practice-led Information Design1 project (2023) as a case study to illustrate the impact of gAI on communication design in South African. I comment on challenges, shortfalls and opportunities that belie applications of gAI in design curricula with the intention to demystify, to some degree, some of the concerns brought about by gAI in communication design by articulating a Baudrillardian lens on gAI.