Hands and Algorithms: Hybrid Intelligence for Posthuman Craft Ecologies

This paper examines the role of generative AI in contemporary craft ecologies, with a focus on Italy’s artisanal and design ecosystems. Rather than framing AI as a threat to heritage or merely a tool for efficiency, we propose that AI can be a collaborator within hybrid intelligences that extend craftsmanship, rather than replace it. Drawing on posthumanist and more-than-human design perspectives, we conceptualize hybrid intelligence as a relational infrastructure for co-design among humans, materials, and computational systems. Through a literature review and ten expert interviews with designers, artisans, curators, engineers, and scholars, we identify tensions around authorship, authenticity, standardization, ethics, craft heritage, and data cultures. Speculative scenarios project hesitant futures, balancing risks of homogenization with opportunities for resilience. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it proposes a conceptual map of hybrid intelligence for craft and heritage contexts. Second, it offers situated insights into Italian craft imaginaries based on expert perspectives. Third, it demonstrates a methodological approach that combines thematic analysis with speculative futuring.