Towards Distributed Creativity: Understanding Generative AI in the Context of Design Philosophy and the Material Turn

This study examines the transformative role of generative AI (GenAI) in design through the lens of the material turn, which foregrounds materiality’s agency in shaping human practices. In this context, GenAI is not a mere tool but an active participant in co-creation, challenging subject-object distinctions in design philosophy. Drawing on ontological design, postphenomenology, cognitive science, and material engagement theory, we reinterpret creativity as an emergent phenomenon within sociomaterial networks. Our framework reveals design as a relational process, where creativity unfolds through adaptive interactions, shifting the designer’s role from control to orchestration. We conclude by highlighting the subject- and object-decentered interpretation of design, emphasizing the feedback loops through which human and non-human agents mutually constitute each other over time, creating a new, evolving creative ecosystem.