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Generative AI: Not a Replacement for Human Roles as a New Tool for Humans
Hirano: I’d like to ask about generative AI, which is being utilized in your office. Could you share how it’s being applied, and what role you envision generative AI playing in architectural design moving forward?
Kuma: We haven’t set any official guidelines for using generative AI across the office; each person is free to explore how they wish. This freedom leads to some surprising applications. For example, AI can handle structural calculations. The real strength of generative AI is how it can answer virtually any question, depending on how you phrase it. With the right questioning, it’s possible that design could progress without much need for engineers.
In practice, most people in the office are using AI to generate image references, which then guide the direction of the design. I believe this is the most common method being used.
This approach aligns closely with how my office has always worked. Rather than making top-down decisions, I ask “What possibilities exist?” and through a series of questions and answers, a direction begins to emerge. This is exactly where generative AI excels—providing quick answers that would have been impossible with human intelligence. Through an ongoing cycle of questioning and refining, the direction becomes clearer, allowing us to move forward faster. AI has taken the approach we’ve refined over the past 30 years and supercharged it, expanding the scope and accelerating the pace of our work. It’s like we’ve added a powerful turbo boost to our process.
Hirano: There are concerns that even “creativity,” once thought to be uniquely human, could be overtaken by generative AI, leading to a future where architects are no longer needed. What’s your take on that?
Kuma: I don’t share that concern at all. For example, the creativity in my office isn’t just in individual details, but in the overall process and system we’ve built. When people come together and engage in a cycle of questions and answers, a direction gradually emerges, and something begins to take shape. Initially, it might seem unclear, but over time, a clear idea forms. In the end, it’s still humans who create. The only change is that AI has become another tool we use. The essence of creation hasn’t shifted—if anything, AI could actually amplify our creativity.
