**Handicraft Artists’ Attitudes Toward Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Handicraft Design Process**

Elham Tolouei¹ MARYAM BAYAT MONFARED² SAEIDALI ESMAEILI³

1) Master’s Student: Art Research – Payame Noor University, Tehran East Branch Email:
2) Master’s Student: Art Research – Payame Noor University, Tehran East Branch Email:
3) Master’s Student: Art Research – Payame Noor University, Tehran East Branch Email:

IOI Code : ABKH-ABKKBB
Publication : 4th International Conference on Applied Researches in Humanities, Economics, Management & Accounting(icrhema.com)
Abstract :
    The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of artistic creation has brought about a fundamental transformation in the boundaries between traditional and digital creativity. As a domain closely intertwined with identity, authenticity, manual skills, and cultural-historical heritage, handicrafts face unique challenges and opportunities in response to intelligent content-generation and design technologies. Examining and understanding handicraft artists’ perceptions and attitudes toward these emerging technologies plays a crucial role in shaping the future of the craft sector. The present study aims to analyze and synthesize the existing research literature on the attitudes, perspectives, and positions of handicraft artists and artisans toward the use of generative AI in the processes of ideation, design, and pattern development in handicrafts. The study adopts a narrative review and library-based research methodology. To collect the relevant data, scholarly documents and credible articles published in recent years in domestic and international academic databases were searched using keywords related to generative AI, handicrafts, creativity, authenticity, and artists’ perceptions. The identified literature was subsequently examined using an analytical approach. The findings of the existing literature indicate that handicraft artists’ attitudes toward generative AI reflect a dual spectrum, ranging from acceptance to resistance. On the positive side, artists welcome this technology as a source of inspiration during the pre-design stages, a tool for rapidly developing traditional motifs and patterns, a means of revitalizing ancient visual heritage, and a way of overcoming creative blocks. Conversely, major concerns have been identified regarding the weakening of the concept of authenticity, the marginalization of indigenous and tactile skills, challenges related to intellectual property and copyright, and the reduction of the human-centered value of handicrafts to machine-driven processes. The findings of this review study suggest that generative AI can serve not as a replacement for handicraft artists, but rather as a creative assistant and collaborator in the pre-design process, provided that a clear boundary is maintained between technological reinterpretation and the preservation of manual authenticity. Developing ethical and culturally grounded frameworks, together with enhancing artists’ AI literacy, is essential for creating synergy between tradition and technology within the context of contemporary handicrafts.

Keywords : generative artificial intelligence handicrafts artists’ attitudes design process technological creativity