A Proposed Model for Integrating AI into Product Design Thinking Education

As AI reshapes the educational landscape, rethinking instructional strategies to foster Design Thinking in engineering is no longer optional—it is essential. This paper proposes a framework integrating AI into the design workflow, validated through a comparative study on a computer mouse design project. The results showed a profound difference: the group working with the support of AI outperformed the traditional control group significantly, as they showed greater creativity, speed of ideas, and the total amount of designs produced. Most importantly, the application of AI acted as a catalyst here, widening the scope of the designs, nudging the students in the direction of varied solution pathways. Feedback received from the following 60 students of the next cohort further supported that the use of the tools of AI brought a dramatic positive change in the learning motivation of the students. Keywords— Artificial intelligence, design thinking, engineering education, teaching methods, product design, computer mouse.