Applied AI

From generative media to intelligent environments, students discover the expanding role of AI across industries and creative disciplines. Students analyze real-world examples and trends to build a broad, cross-sector understanding of what AI can do— and imagine what comes next.

This interdisciplinary course dives into how cognitive biases and past experiences limit creativity—and how to move beyond them. Students explore psychological research, practice divergent thinking, and apply hands-on techniques to recognize blind spots, overcome mental rigidity, and generate bold, original ideas across disciplines.

Contemporary AI systems are powered by algorithms and computational structures. Through hands-on application, students connect technical foundations directly to the creative tools and practices in the industry. Students implement core algorithms and machine learning techniques, such as processing datasets, training classifiers, building computer vision pipelines, and visualizing model outputs, while examining the architectural principles behind large language models and responsible AI-assisted development. Aligning computational concepts and creative applications, students build with AI at a deeper level and reason confidently about system behavior.

Students explore how to harness computing power for creativity, expression, and interactive design as they experiment with code, systems, and tools that bring intelligent behaviors to life.

In this high-velocity studio—where collaboration meets invention—students co-design AI-powered prototypes that tackle real-world challenges, spark dialogue, and push creative limits.

In this milestone course, students design autonomous agents that perceive, decide, and act—creating AI systems that feel intentional, responsive, and alive. From virtual assistants to expressive characters, each prototype explores how intelligence can be both deeply technical and profoundly human.

Students design intelligent systems that prioritize human judgment, creativity, and care—while cultivating an ethical design perspective grounded in responsibility, impact, and intention.

Students learn to think like systems designers, mapping interactions, behaviors, and feedback loops to understand how AI shapes—and is shaped by—complex, evolving environments. From products to services to built environments, they explore how intelligent systems respond to human and contextual input across diverse applications.

In this interdisciplinary studio, students act as embedded AI specialists, collaborating across disciplines to amplify SCAD’s collective genius. They apply AI thinking to enhance narrative, environment, or system design—building immersive, responsive experiences across the domains of story, space, and simulation.

In this high-tempo studio, students take on a new design sprint each week—exploring fresh tools, techniques, and applications as they emerge. With every challenge, students strengthen their creative agility, technical range, and ethical judgment in a field that evolves by the minute.

Through a series of intense sprints, students pressure-test new approaches, confront edge cases, and stretch their own assumptions. Students synthesize their discoveries into a focused direction that sets the stage for a high-impact capstone project.

With guidance from faculty and industry mentors, students refine, test, and launch ambitious work that fuses creative vision and technical mastery. They emerge not just with a portfolio, but with proof of what’s possible, claiming their space in the AI design landscape.

Internships offer students valuable opportunities to work in a professional environment and gain firsthand experience to help them prepare for careers. In an approved internship setting, a student typically spends one quarter working with an on-site professional supervisor and a faculty internship supervisor to achieve specific goals and objectives related to the program of study.

This course serves as a precursor to SCAD's upcoming BDES in Applied AI degree program, bridging the gap between traditional design practice and AI-enhanced creative workflows. Students will progress from Adobe Firefly through ComfyUI to enterprise-level NVIDIA DGX Spark systems, developing both technical competency and creative application skills through hands-on, project-based learning.