On March 5, 2026, a diverse group of educators, researchers, practitioners, and institutional leaders gathered in Toronto for a focused and forward-looking discussion on the future of design education in the age of artificial intelligence.

Hosted by OCAD University in collaboration with the Cumulus Association, the Committee of Art & Design Education (CADE), and Conifer Futures Group, the roundtable titled Cumulus AI & The Future of Design Education created a space for in-depth exchange across disciplines and international contexts. The session centred on a shared concern: how rapidly evolving AI technologies are not only transforming design tools, but also reshaping the foundations of creative practice, education, and professional identity.

What emerged from the workshop was a clear sense that design education is at a critical inflection point. As AI systems become embedded in ideation, production, and evaluation, longstanding assumptions about authorship, creativity, and expertise are being challenged. Participants engaged deeply with these shifts, exploring both the opportunities AI introduces, such as expanded creative capacity and new modes of collaboration, and the tensions it creates.

A number of these tensions surfaced repeatedly throughout the discussions. There was a strong concern about how to preserve critical thinking and human judgment in an environment of accelerated, automated generation. Equally pressing was the need to rethink authorship and originality within human and machine collaboration, where creative ownership is increasingly distributed and ambiguous. Participants also reflected on how existing educational models, often structured around stable tools and disciplinary boundaries, must now adapt to continuous technological change.

Central to the conversation was the role of education in preparing designers not just to use AI systems, but to engage with them critically. This includes questioning assumptions, directing outputs, and understanding limitations and implications. This shift suggests that design education must move beyond technical proficiency alone, toward cultivating deeper forms of inquiry, responsibility, and agency.

The workshop report also sharpened the conversation by reframing AI not simply as a toolset, but as a force that is changing where value sits in design education and practice. Participants identified a clear shift from technical production toward judgment, authorship, and strategic direction, with the real challenge no longer being how to make more output, but how to make better decisions about what is worth making in the first place. The report further emphasized that competencies such as prompt engineering, critical AI evaluation, human-AI collaboration, and data-informed visual investigation are becoming foundational, while existing skills like synthesis, future thinking, visualization, co-design, data analysis, and creative coding are being reshaped by AI rather than replaced outright. Just as importantly, the workshop highlighted that design education must now prepare students to question AI-generated results, audit for bias, understand provenance, and maintain human agency throughout the process, especially as AI accelerates both creative opportunity and the risk of homogenized or uncritical outcomes.

Despite the transformative impact of AI, the workshop reinforced that many of the most valuable design competencies remain distinctly human. Systems thinking, ethical reasoning, contextual awareness, collaboration, and the ability to frame meaningful questions in uncertain conditions were consistently identified as essential capabilities. In this evolving landscape, design is increasingly defined not only by making, but also by interpreting, guiding, and evaluating complex systems.

The discussions also pointed to a broader transformation in the role of designers within society. As AI becomes more integrated into everyday life, designers are taking on expanded roles as mediators between technology and human experience, shaping how systems are understood, deployed, and governed. This carries growing civic and ethical responsibilities, particularly in relation to issues of equity, accountability, and cultural impact.

While the Toronto workshop was highly focused in scope, its insights are contributing to a wider international dialogue. Themes and questions from the session have informed ongoing conversations within the Cumulus network, including the recent Cumulus Global Conference in Athens (https://cumulusassociation.org/events/cumulus-conferences/cumulus-athens-2026-rootsroutes-in-design). At the same time, the strength of the Toronto roundtable lay in its depth, bringing diverse perspectives together in a concentrated setting to engage directly with the complexities of AI’s impact on design education.

Perhaps most importantly, the workshop underscored that this conversation is far from complete. The pace of technological change, combined with the evolving role of design in society, makes continued dialogue essential. Participants expressed a shared interest in sustaining this exchange through future convenings, collaborative research, and ongoing partnerships between academia and professional practice.

As these efforts continue, key areas of focus are likely to include new models of design education and lifelong learning, the evolving relationship between craft and AI systems, emerging forms of interdisciplinary practice, and the ethical and civic responsibilities of designers in an AI-mediated world.

You can read the report by clicking here.