Rise of the machines: trends, challenges and future directions for AI in design education

At the Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE) 2024 conference, 53 research papers were published on AI a significant increase on previous years. These papers reveal how educators are using AI and their perspectives on its use. To better understand the nature of these papers and their contribution to the scientific community, a workshop was held at the conference asking 24 education experts to code the abstracts and share their insights. This activity supported delegates shared understanding of the AI education landscape. Following the conference, a meta-analysis was conducted on the workshop outcomes. This research goes beyond a literature review of the conference papers through quantitative and qualitative analysis, revealing the challenges of conducting research in an E&PDE context. This reveals opportunities for future research, and a reflection of the value of AI research within this context.