Measuring the Impact of ChatGPT on Fostering Concept Generation in Innovative Product Design

Abstract

The growing demand for innovative and user-centric product design has led to a growing need for effective idea generation methods. In recent years, natural language processing (NLP) tools such as ChatGPT have emerged as a promising solution for supporting idea generation in various domains. This paper investigates a framework for studying the role of ChatGPT in facilitating the ideation process in product design. This investigation measures the impact of ChatGPT on the generation of innovative concepts compared to the use of “classic” design methods. An overview of the state-of-the-art idea generation methods in product design opens the paper. Then, the paper highlights some hypotheses about the impact of ChatGPT on innovative product design, aiming for product augmentation by adding features. The paper then describes the design experience in which ChatGPT is used as a tool for concept generation. Finally, the paper analyzes the dataset, using precise metrics to characterize the participants’ performance and compare them. This analysis allows the paper to argue about the validation/rejection of the hypotheses. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and some suggestions for future research. Along with the paper, the Microsoft Excel workbook used to perform the data analysis is available to the readers to perform their own data collection and analysis. The workbook UX has been carefully studied and developed to make it usable by anyone. At the same time, it should be flexible enough to manage several situations characterized by different numbers of participants, product functions to implement, and generated concepts.