Our immersion began at the South Side Community Arts Center, where ID’s Dean, Anijo Mathew, and Chicago’s first and only cultural historian, Tim Samuelson, welcomed participants to the city with a discussion about the legacy of design leadership and the New Bauhaus’ eventual absorption into the Illinois Institute of Technology as The Institute of Design.

SSCAC’s building served as an example of the city’s Bauhaus roots, as the home’s interior into was redesigned as a modern art gallery as part of the Works Progress Administration by the New Bauhaus’ Hin Bredendieck and Nathan Lerner.

Lennel Davis of SSCAC further shared the organization’s history and relevance to Chicago’s cultural landscape.

We then shifted our attention to unexpected and new applications of data: art installation and micromobility.

The Design Museum of Chicago’s Tanner Woodford and Colossal’s Christopher Jobson presented the organization’s most current exhibition: At the Precipice. Curated by Colossal, At the Precipice considers the role of physical and emotional reactions in the era of climate disaster. The exhibition explores the use of color, tactility, material, and data to offer viewers accessible entry points to understanding the climate crisis

John Lankford, Senior Director of Partnerships & Policy & Communication at Spin, joined us at the Design Museum of Chicago to discuss the role AI plays in the advancement and hinderance of micromobility.

To close out our second day, the Consulate General of Italy hosted a cocktail hour at the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago to welcome their fellow Italians to the city of Chicago. Italian leaders joined our group to discuss the relationship between Chicago and Milan - sister cities who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of partnership in 2023. The group also discussed economic partnerships between our cities.

Our final day of the AI + Design immersion brought the group’s focus to the tangible: hands-on learning and government policy considerations amidst the emergence of new technology.

First at Mobile Makers, participants met Maya Bird-Murphy, the award-winning nonprofit founder and emerging design leader. Maya provided participants a chance to evaluate, research, and prototype a design challenge that mirrored Mobile Makers’ youth programming. Participants gained a first-hand understanding of civic challenges facing Chicago’s communities and were implored to consider the inequitable obstacles facing non-white individuals attempting to enter the design world.

Harish Patel of Build the Field at Economic Security Project joined us for the final site visit of our immersion to discuss to discuss policymaking in the world of emerging technology.

As part of a group of policymakers for the United States federal government exploring potential responses to AI, Harish detailed where the US government stands, what the UN plans to do, and how advocates on both sides of the issue suggest policy moves forward.

Our discussion focused on the role of design as a connector between users and developers of technology; policy and law; and educators.

“This [AI] is an open space for a lot of intervention. People outside of technologists should be in the conversation.”

— Harish Patel, Vice President, Build the Field at Economic Security Project