Understanding Collaboration between Professional Designers and Decision-making AI: A Case Study in the Workplace

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has fundamentally transformed creative work practices in the design industry. Existing studies have identified both opportunities and challenges for creative practitioners' collaboration with generative AI to facilitate effective human-AI co-creation in the workplace. However, there is still a limited understanding of designers' collaboration with AI, which supports creative aspects distinct from those at which generative AI excels. To address these gaps, this study focuses on designers' collaboration with decision-making AI, which supports the convergence process in creative workflow, as opposed to the divergent process supported by generative AI. Specifically, we conducted a case study at an online advertising design company that introduced AI that predicts the effectiveness of advertising design and incorporated it into the design workflow as a decision-making support tool to explore how professional graphic designers at the company perceive AI's impact on their work practice. Findings from interviews with 12 designers identified how they trust and rely on AI, its benefits, and its challenges, including how they navigate the challenges. Based on the findings, we discuss design recommendations for designing and introducing such decision-making AI into the creative design workflow in the workplace.