AI-powered algorithms used by Instagram and Pinterest are impacting how designers and architects look for ideas and leading to more homogenous work, according to a University of Oxford research project.
Run by designer and Oxford Internet Institute doctoral researcher Maggie Mustaklem, Design, Interrupted examines how social-media algorithms are influencing creativity.
Mustaklem became interested in the issue while working as a knitwear designer and noticing that her creations were being matched by peers around the globe.
Instagram algorithm an "everyday AI"
"I designed a sweater with a stitch from Pinterest that we sold to a shop in New York for $400, and then I also saw it at Uniqlo for $40 and in a really high-end store for $800," she told Dezeen. "I know it was the same stitch, and I know that everyone had it on their Pinterest boards. Two of us were in New York, one of us was in Tokyo and we all saw that same image. And I became so interested in this as a problem."
Whereas in the past designers may have leafed through magazines to look for images when starting a project, Mustaklem explained, today they will likely run a quick search on Pinterest or Instagram.
Since 2016, social-media feeds have been largely determined by algorithms that use machine learning to push content considered more likely to be appealing to the user.
Social media apps like Instagram and Pinterest began using search algorithms in the mid-2010s. Photo by Georgia de ...