Car Design News recently paid a visit to the Motor City to catch up with Stellantis chief design officer, Ralph Gilles. We found the designer in typically buoyant form despite the demands of liaising with teams spread across different time zones. We kicked off the conversation by asking Gilles about his views on the potential impact of artificial intelligence. 

Car Design News: What are your thoughts on AI in design?

Ralph Gilles: AI may be for research or for understanding what the trends are because it’s a very quick way to simulate a lot of trends. Some past, some present – it’s kind of a fusion. There’s always a head of the snake, i.e., there’s someone behind all that algorithm design who’s trying to make sense of how humans think or replicate how humans process information.

And I think it’s fascinating, but it’s a tool like anything else, I think it’s probably a device to get a sense of what is impactful. It’s kind of a cliché of every detail rising through the surface, so you can quickly see what not to do sometimes. This is what the world expects you to do – so let’s go a different direction.