A snapshot of AI adoption: Italy’s design sector

For many, the Italian design industry embodies cutting-edge creativity mixed with old-world traditions—innovation combined with craftsmanship, creators known as much for the tools they use as the products they design. This juxtaposition makes the industry a particularly interesting case study on AI adoption: How does a field known for human originality often realized with time-tested tools (plus strong technological know-how) approach integrating artificial intelligence?

Deloitte Private recently partnered with the Symbola Foundation and two other Italy-based design organizations to survey 350 Italy-based design professionals providing services in fields including fashion, furniture, transportation, hospitality, and interior design. Thirty-eight percent of respondents ranked AI as the second-most important technology for the future of their industry, after extended-reality applications. Roughly half (45%) of the Italy-based designers who participated in the study believe they have good or excellent knowledge of how to use AI, yet only 15% say they frequently use AI solutions.

Many survey respondents see AI as a design field unto itself: 40% of interviewees say AI will represent a field in which design-related skills will be applied. Moreover, 36% think they’ll play a crucial role in how AI is developed, and how quickly and easily it’s adopted by other industries, both private and public—not to mention society in general.

From runways to highways and beyond, Italy’s design industry often influences innovation on the global stage. As more Italy-based design professionals add AI to their thoughtfully curated toolboxes, it could both accelerate the technology’s further development and bolster the country’s rich heritage of design innovation.