AI Dreaming Together | SUSTech x Polito Summer School Concludes Successfully

From July 6 to 10, 2026, the School of Innovation and Creative Design at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) joined forces with the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino to co-host the “AI Dreaming Together” Summer School. The five-day program focused on participatory AI and speculative design. It brought together 29 students from diverse academic backgrounds at universities in China and abroad to explore alternative futures for human-AI relationships through thematic lectures and hands-on workshops.

Assistant Professor Xueliang Li of the SUSTech School of Design delivers the opening remarks

 

 

 

Course Review

 

On the first morning of the Summer School, two thematic lectures provided participants with a theoretical foundation for understanding participatory AI and speculative design.

In her lecture, “Participatory AI Design,” Assistant Professor Maria Luce Lupetti introduced relevant theories and practical cases from the field of human-computer interaction. She discussed how the values, preferences, and needs of design communities can be systematically incorporated into AI design practices across different cultural contexts.

 

Assistant Professor Maria Luce Lupetti delivers a lecture on “Participatory AI Design”

 

Assistant Professor Alessandro Ianniello then delivered “An Introduction to AI Design Methodologies for the Future.” He presented the methodological framework of speculative design, offering theoretical and practical support for reconsidering the role of artificial intelligence in society and developing AI-driven speculative design practices.

 

Assistant Professor Alessandro Ianniello delivers a lecture on “AI Design Methodologies for the Future”

 

The teaching team from Politecnico di Torino introduced the guiding principles of the Summer School and presented six core themes: Dignity, Hope, Joy, Reciprocity, Conviviality, and Care. These themes served as the central framework for the design activities that followed. The 29 participants were divided into six groups, with each group developing its project around one of the themes.

 

The teaching team from Politecnico di Torino introduces the guiding principles

 

Participants discuss and develop their initial concepts

 

During the Summer School, participants used rapid prototyping materials to give tangible form to their design concepts and create preliminary prototypes. The SUSTech School of Design provided a wide range of prototyping materials and programmable simulation kits, enabling participants to simulate and conduct initial testing of the basic functions of their intelligent interactive systems.

During the prototyping process, Andrea Sillano, a PhD student in Computer and Control Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, introduced participants to the fundamentals of using Raspberry Pi. He guided them in combining AI tools with Raspberry Pi to transform their design concepts into functional prototypes with intelligent interactive capabilities, helping each group take the crucial step from conceptualization to technical implementation.

 

Andrea Sillano guides participants in using Raspberry Pi and AI tools

 

Participants put the finishing touches on their projects

 

PhD students from Politecnico di Torino assist participants in debugging their prototypes

 

 

Project Exhibition

 

On the afternoon of July 10, the final exhibition of the “AI Dreaming Together” Summer School opened successfully at the SUSTech School of Design in Shenzhen. The event attracted experts, scholars, and students from a variety of fields. In their opening remarks, Assistant Professor Maria Luce Lupetti and Assistant Professor Xueliang Li reviewed the program, commended the students’ work, and presented certificates to the participants.

 

Assistant Professor Maria Luce Lupetti and Assistant Professor Xueliang Li deliver the closing remarks

 

Participating students present their projects at the exhibition

 

 

Student Projects

 

1. Dignity — False God
Team Members: Ouyang Lan, Wang Yao, Chen Xin, Hu Mingyang, Zhou Ruize

False God is an interactive theater work that explores how people perceive and depend on artificial intelligence. As participants gradually approach the “true face” of AI, they are encouraged to reconsider their worship of technology, the sacrifices they make for it, and the selves they project onto it.

Dignity Group Project — False God

 

2. Hope — Kaleidoscopic Answer
Team Members: Zhu Yue, Li Heyue, Ouyang Tong, Cao Chengcai, Tian Shiqi

Kaleidoscopic Answer is an AI-powered interactive system that offers diverse responses when people feel lost or uncertain. Rather than providing a single definitive answer, it presents perspectives from different voices, helping participants reconsider the questions before them and the possibilities they hold.

Hope Group Project — Kaleidoscopic Answer

 

3. Joy — Pixel Purr
Team Members: Song Mengmeng, Liu Zhaowen, Ling Xinyi, Huang Yitao, Huang Xujing

Pixel Purr is an interactive work exploring intimate communication and emotional shifts. When a conversation between two people gradually becomes subdued or heavy, a pixelated cat unexpectedly appears, using animation and sound to bring a moment of lightness to the interaction.

Joy Group Project — Pixel Purr

 

4. Reciprocity — Collective Emotion Garden
Team Members: Chen Xiaochuan, Liu Jing, Zhang Lidan, Khaliun Ganbat, Zhang Yaode

Collective Emotion Garden is an interactive garden designed for people experiencing high levels of stress in urban communities. The garden senses and responds to emotions: participants express their feelings through sound or touch, while the garden responds with music, scents, and dynamic feedback. The project explores how individuals’ emotions might be gently acknowledged and supported by their environment and community.

Reciprocity Group Project — Collective Emotion Garden

 

5. Conviviality — Cloud Chorus
Team Members: Liang Jiayu, Wu Sitong, Zhang Doudou, Zhao Yanqi, Chen Chunrong

Cloud Chorus is a physical interactive music installation designed for recreational areas in public parks. Changes in the number of participants generate different layers of sound, allowing strangers to create an improvised ensemble through spontaneous participation.

Conviviality Group Project — Cloud Chorus

 

6. Care — Dear Me
Team Members: Hou Jialu, Ling Yuequn, Zhang Tuo, Liu Zifei

Dear Me is an AI-assisted experience centered on dialogue with oneself. By communicating with their “past self” and “future self,” participants revisit memories, expectations, and uncertainties, experiencing how care can emerge between the self at different stages of life.

Care Group Project — Dear Me

 

 

Conclusion

 

The “AI Dreaming Together” Summer School marked an in-depth collaboration between the SUSTech School of Design and the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino in the fields of participatory AI and speculative design. Working within six thematic frameworks - Dignity, Hope, Joy, Reciprocity, Conviviality, and Care - the 29 participants completed the entire design process, from concept development and low- and high-fidelity prototyping to the final exhibition.

With participatory AI and speculative design as its core methodologies, the program encouraged students to explore a central question: As AI technologies become increasingly integrated into everyday life, whom should design serve, what values should technology embody, and might relationships between humans and AI extend beyond the conventional roles of “tool” and “user”? These discussions ran throughout the lectures and workshops and were reflected in the participants’ final projects.

 

Summer School Group Photo