Cognitive Implications of Using GenAI in Design Thinking: Insights From Educational Case Studies

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping knowledge-intensive industries, requiring knowledge workers to adapt and, at times, reinvent their practices. Educating the next generation of knowledge workers in this rapidly evolving era of GenAI requires higher education to prepare students for this new work environment by incorporating GenAI-augmented practices into the educational process. This study investigates the integration of GenAI tools in design thinking (DT) workshops and examines their behavioral and cognitive implications across two educational settings. Drawing on data from two case studies and using a mixed-method research approach, we analyzed students’ experience with and without the use of GenAI in both real and simulated customer contexts. Our findings reveal that GenAI integration transformed the practice of DT. Qualitative analysis of students’ prompting practices revealed limited sophistication, with most students copying task guidelines directly and accepting AI-generated content without iteration, effectively exhibiting “metacognitive laziness.” However, in authentic project contexts, students demonstrated more structured approaches. Quantitatively, students reported overwhelmingly positive perceptions of GenAI integration, with surveys showing notable improvements in perceived capabilities and self-efficacy compared with baseline conditions. Context-dependent differences emerged, with authentic project settings consistently associated with higher performance across all DT stages compared with hypothetical scenarios. This research contributes to the emerging discussion on the use of GenAI in design tasks by providing empirically grounded insights. It further proposes a GenAI-DT framework that facilitates authenticity and cognitive forcing processes to prevent cognitive degradation and promote critical thinking.