Editorial: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Design (GAIDe)

Abstract

Engineering design is undergoing a profound transformation driven by Generative Artificial Intelligence in Design (GAIDe). By unlocking high-dimensional, multimodal exploration across design ideation, synthesis, and evaluation for materials, manufacturing, and beyond, GAIDe enables a fundamental shift from traditional stage-gated engineering workflows to stage-coupled human-AI collaborative processes. This special issue brings together 15 accepted papers that capture this paradigm shift. The collection is structured into four thematic groups: (1) AI-assisted ideation, multi-agent collaboration, and creativity, (2) representation modalities, human-AI decision-making, and aesthetics, (3) design knowledge formalization, requirements, and agentic workflows, and (4) physics-informed, reliability- and manufacturing-constrained generative design. By mapping these contributions to primary design activities, problem definition, concept generation, design development/analysis, and optimization/validation, this editorial establishes a foundational framework for understanding how GAIDe strengthens early-stage understanding of design problems and brings downstream considerations directly into early-stage design synthesis.