The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is transforming how we live and work. Traditional approaches to innovation are facing new challenges, and their effectiveness is being reevaluated. At the same time, the AI era demands innovation that harnesses uniquely human abilities—our intuition, sensitivity, and creativity.

Design Thinking is a problem-solving approach that applies the mindset and methodologies of designers to innovation. At its core, it is user-centered, relying on an iterative process of empathizing, defining problems, ideating, prototyping, and validating to create products and services that truly meet human needs.

Interestingly, Design Thinking’s outward exploration (Outreach) shares similarities with AI’s expansive capabilities. However, true innovation requires a deeper engagement with fundamental human questions. AI excels at tasks with clear answers and processing vast amounts of data—areas where humans are increasingly being replaced. In this context, the key for humanity is to develop and refine the abilities that AI cannot replicate:

• Perception – The ability to sense, interpret emotions, and understand human needs—something AI struggles to fully capture.
• Engagement – The ability to share perspectives, foster empathy, collaborate, and inspire action.
• Problem-Framing – The ability to deeply observe, uncover core challenges, and ask the right questions. While AI can generate questions based on vast datasets, these often have standard answers. The ability to explore open-ended, ambiguous problems remains uniquely human.

At its essence, creativity—the ability to ask the right questions and create meaningful solutions—is irreplaceable. The ability to sense what others overlook, frame new challenges, and pursue deeper insights will define the limits of AI.

As generative AI becomes mainstream, creativity remains a scarce and invaluable skill—not only the most powerful but also the most efficient form of productivity. From a market perspective, roles that demand these rare skills may also carry higher value. When AI takes over tasks with clear answers and high creative demand, society will see a surge in opportunities that require perception, engagement, and problem-framing, pushing us toward even greater challenges.

By focusing on creativity and fostering collective problem-solving, we can drive meaningful action and build new collaborative ecosystems. This is where Eastern perspectives on Design Thinking come into play. True innovation emerges at the intersection of what we truly want to create and what the market truly needs—a shift from conventional problem-solving to what we call authentic innovation.

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人工智能技術的快速發展正在為我們的社會和工作方式帶來重大變化，傳統的創新創造方法在 AI 時代面臨新的挑戰，其有效性也被重新評估。與此同時，AI 時代要求更多利用人類固有能力與敏感度的必要創新。

Design Thinking 設計思考是一種方法，將設計師在設計過程中使用的思考過程應用於問題解決和創新創造，它的特點是以使用者為中心，目的是透過重複同理心、問題定義、構想產生、原型製作和驗證的過程，創造出能滿足使用者需求的產品和服務。

Design Thinking 具備的外部探索（Outreach）特質，跟人工智能具有同樣的特質，人們卻需要更深層的「問題」才能協助創新從外部走向內部。如果我們觀察人工智能時代，機器特別擅長「有正確答案的工作」與「大量資料處理」，以此為主的人類既能將大部分被人工智能取代。這個情況下，人類需要的是人工智能無法取代的能力，具體而言包括以下幾項：

• 感覺：敏銳的感官和理解人類情感與需求的能力，這是人工智能無法捕捉的。
• 參與：分享對問題的認知，透過同理心與合作讓他人參與，並鼓勵行動的能力。
• 提出問題的能力：深入觀察情境並發現基本問題的能力，雖然人工智能依舊可用大量資料產生問題，但大部分有標準答案，我們認為沒有正確解答的問題能力才是人類的基礎。

總結這幾項能力，或許我們可以提倡獨特的「創造力」- 由人創造與發問的能力，仍然是無法被人工智能所取代的。敏銳的感官、發現別人尚未察覺的問題、提出正確的問題，這些能力是人工智能無法輕易取代的，感受與發問的能力將成為人工智能時代的新瓶頸。

這個也是在生成式人工智能逐漸成為主流時，創造力依然是稀缺技能，同時是最好，也是最有效率的生產力核心。而且，從市場供需角度來看，能夠展現這些高度稀缺技能的工作可能也擁有較高的單位成本，換句話說，人工智能開始承接那些有正確答案且具有創造力高的工作時，社會上就會產生以「感覺、參與、提出問題」的高需求工作，迎接更困難的挑戰。

如果我們能夠以創造力為主，加上一群人參與思考的能力，分享難題與解方，並引發行動，建立新的合作關係，就是東方世界的設計思維。真正的創新來自於發現「真正想做」且「具備市場需求」的事情，這也是我們在導入設計思維時，更細節的導向至「真實創新」。