Futurists, technologists, DIY makers, hackers and inventors, animators, storytellers, tricksters, coders and AI interlocutors, these are just a few ways to describe the 2026 Digital Futures graduate students whose thesis projects are on exhibit until March 30.
The Digital Futures graduate students are passionate artists, designers and critical thinkers who are engaging with the possibilities and complexities of our contemporary moment. The exhibition, at the Waterfront Campus (130 Queens Quay E., floor 4R), is a testament to their hard work and commitment to their research and creative practice.
Among the projects on display is Eri, You’re AI Therapy Guide, developed by Erinma Arki, a graphic designer, videographer and web designer.
Through her project, which is in the form of an app, speculates how a culturally attuned AI chatbot (named Eri) can be ethically designed to bring awareness to local in person therapy resources for racialized people.
In the app, "Eri" is programmed to provide Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) exercises based on a therapy worksheet from Positive Psychology, before recommending in person therapy resources through links in the chat.
The purpose of the activities is therapy practice as a first step before getting recommendations for in person therapy. There's a continued emphasis in the chat that "Eri" is not a therapist, but just a guide for in person resources.
The app, geared specifically to Black women, includes a page with community organizations with an emphasize on organizations for Black racialized people, as an encouragement for being in community with like-minded people for better mental health.
“Based on my racial identity, I highlight Black people as an example of a future user case because of the current tech biases and systemic barriers that exist amongst people of colour,” explains Arki.
The app, along with a short film, come together to reimagine AI usage for therapy, through an ethical design project where AI is used for therapy awareness, not therapy.
CUSTOM SOFTWARE PROTOTYPE USES GENERATIVE AI IN A NEW WAY
Digital Futures graduate student Kaspar Zhang comes from a Computer Science and UI/UX background and has spent the past two years building and launching AI products.
“I love learning new things and making cool stuff, and I’m excited to be designing at a moment when AI is reshaping how we build, think, and create,” he says.
Zhang says that as Generative AI evolves into an agent capable of complex reasoning, traditional "chatbot" interfaces often promote automation over engagement. By delivering instant answers, these systems can lead to cognitive offloading and a loss of human agency, reducing users to passive supervisors of automated output.
His thesis project is a custom software prototype designed to restore human agency by shifting the AI from an "oracle" that provides answers to a "methodologist" that supports co-thinking. The project, known as Flint, traces an evolution from linear chat to a spatial "co-thinking canvas.”
Unlike standard AI tools that generate finished content, Flint utilizes Generative AI to diagnose a user’s cognitive task and dynamically provide structural scaffolding.
A core design principle of Flint is the separation of concerns: the AI is structurally prevented from writing on the canvas, ensuring that while the machine shapes the environment, the human remains the sole architect of the reasoning and ideas.
By externalizing the reasoning process into editable, manipulable objects, Flint reintroduces the "productive struggle" necessary for deep understanding. This research demonstrates that staying "in the loop" of thought is not about passive viewing, but about active collaboration and control over the structure of the reasoning process itself.
REIMAGINING BRANDING: GENERATIVE AI AND HYPER-PERSONALIZATION
Mahnoor Hasan has been exploring how emerging technologies such as AI, VR, and creative coding can expand the boundaries of digital communication. Hasan’s work focuses on interactivity in graphic design, examining how visual systems can evolve from static visuals into responsive and adaptive experiences.
His thesis project, Reimagining Branding: Generative AI and Hyper-Personalization, explores how artificial intelligence transforms branding from static visual identities into adaptive, dynamic experiences that respond to individual consumers in real time.
Traditional mass marketing, where standardized messaging reaches everyone in the same way, is becoming less effective as audiences grow desensitized to generic advertising and overwhelmed by choice.
In response, brands are increasingly turning to hyper-personalization, using AI and real-time data to create customized experiences based on individual behaviour, location, preferences, and contextual factors such as weather or time of day.
To investigate this shift, Hasan developed the WebAR mobile prototype to demonstrate how AI can dynamically generate visual identities, messaging, and packaging for individual users in real time.
The prototype shows what happens when brand identity becomes fully adaptive, where the same physical product appears differently depending on who is viewing it. Visual elements respond to personal preferences, values, and contextual data, creating a uniquely tailored brand experience.
By bridging physical products and digital layers, the project expands current approaches to hyper-personalization and rethinks the future of consistent brand identity. It raises questions about how adaptive branding may reshape consumer relationships, brand recognition, and the balance between individuality and consistency within brand systems.
DIGITAL FUTURES GRADUATE THESIS EXHIBITION
The exhibition is on until March 30, open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 130 Queens Quay E., floor 4R. You can read more about all of the projects being showcased at the exhibition, by visiting the website, Digital Futures Thesis.