This article originally appeared in the September issue of officeinsight.

So, is AI really revolutionizing how we learn about and teach design? Tilanka Chandrasekera thinks so. The award-winning Oklahoma State University professor and director of the university’s Mixed Reality Lab has been studying the connection between digital media and design. Chandrasekera, who was named IIDA’s 2025 Educator of the Year, isn’t just an advocate for embracing new technologies, he’s been exploring their effects on how we design, how we think, and how we create.

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, it was labeled merely a “research preview,” but was quickly embraced by the public as a revolutionary product, even if it wasn’t perfect — and still isn’t. But the popular chatbot and the technology behind it hasn’t slowed down, and users have expanded how and what they use it for. A researcher, designer and educator, Chandrasekera is interested in how generative AI could help him, his students, and the design industry at large. “I’m a researcher at my core,” he said, “I wanted to see how generative AI affects creativity.”

The outcomes — students’ furniture designs — were collected, anonymized, and analyzed for creativity and cognitive load. Chandrasekera found that in both phases of the experiment, the AI group scored higher on creativity and lower on cognitive load. The non-AI group, meanwhile, faced lower creativity scores and a higher cognitive demand. The fact that the AI group outperformed the non-AI group, even when they did not have access to an AI tool, is telling. “We can see that there is a learning effect that carries forward when using AI,” says Chandrasekera. “It suggests that AI may not be as detrimental to design creativity as one might think.”

In other words, as he wrote in a research paper about the study, the findings suggest that “AI tools can augment human creativity by providing novel perspectives and solutions.”

Some might argue that using AI is cheating; Chandrasekera disagrees. It is widely known that there are many styles of learning, and if we look at the VARK model — visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinesthetic — it’s not hard to understand where AI could help. For instance, using generative AI adds a visual layer which is helpful for visual learners; think of how difficult it could be to visualize something you’ve never seen before with only a written description. In fact, Chandrasekera has also done research exploring how VARK learning styles influence engagement with AI tools, and suggests that these tools are “broadly effective across diverse learning styles.”

He also sees applications for AI in the professional environment, with generative AI tools being used to create 3D and virtual reality renderings that are more easily digestible for clients. “These tools afford us as designers a way to present a three-dimensional, dynamic environment,” he says, because like students, not everyone can easily translate a two-dimensional concept into a detailed mental image.

Generative AI and Automation

Plus, automation, after all, isn’t new. “Revit has been automating tasks for 20 years; why not use AI to automate even more of our mundane tasks?” Chandrasekera asks. If his research showed that reducing cognitive load frees students up for more creativity, wouldn’t this hold up at the professional level?

“Everything relates back to cognitive load. Our brains are small, and there is so much information to process,” he explains. “Why not offload some of these tasks to AI?” While delegating routine tasks to AI can be beneficial, research also warns against the risks of over-reliance. Over time, excessive offloading may erode critical reasoning skills or foster automation bias. For this reason, any use of AI to reduce cognitive load should be approached with careful consideration and intentionality, ensuring that designers remain engaged in the decision-making process, as demonstrated in research from Michael Gerlich, Ph.D., a professor and researcher at SBS Swiss Business School.

Chandrasekera’s research extends beyond the classroom into the broader design profession, where he leads annual surveys of educators and practitioners on the integration of artificial intelligence in design education and practice. The surveys reveal a clear trajectory: While awareness of AI was already high in 2023, by 2025 it has become nearly universal. Yet actual adoption remains uneven. In practice, many firms still report limited use, often citing a lack of formal training, institutional policies, and concerns over intellectual property and ethics as barriers. Academic programs, however, have been quicker to experiment — by 2025, nearly three-quarters of surveyed schools reported integrating AI into studios, visualization, research, or writing — but faculty training is inconsistent, and many programs rely on students exploring generative platforms such as ChatGPT, MidJourney, and DALL-E independently.

Reflecting on these findings, Chandrasekera draws a parallel to the early days of the internet: “With AI, people think it can do everything, and that can feel overwhelming.” But if you start small — focusing on where it actually improves efficiency — you create more room to be creative and to infuse humanity into your work.”

The Human Side

One of the most important roles of an interior designer is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of end users, and Chandrasekera sees this as one avenue to implement AI. “The technical aspects of designing a space are really important,” he says. Using the technology for reviewing “building codes, evaluating materials, and ensuring compliance — this is where AI can truly support us.”

Yet he emphasizes that technology cannot replace the human dimension of design.“From my point of view, AI should serve as a partner in precision,” he continues, “and the actual designing, the aesthetics, the spatial quality is provided by us as designers.” He believes that the best use of AI today, both in and out of the classroom, is to aid in comprehension, task automation, visualization, and research and evaluation.

“Most of the things we do as humans are not rational, they’re not logical,” he says, “They are shaped by intuition, empathy, and the subtle ways we connect to our environments.” Citing Norwegian architect and theorist Christian Norberg-Schulz and his book, “Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture,” focusing on the spirit and purpose of place, he adds: “The spaces we live in and design are deeply spiritual. The humane qualities of a space — its warmth, its sense of belonging — are things AI cannot replicate, at least not now.”