I've been trying to replace ourselves with AI. I have many more experiments to run, but here's what I'm seeing so far:
Ideation-
I'm intrigued. AI produces random results which can expand your thinking if you use it intentionally for the randomness... or frustrate the hell out of you if you try to harness it.
Concept Development-
I'm disappointed. AI doesn't do great with satisfying product design constraints, which is exactly what concept development requires.
Concept Illustration-
Again, disappointed. AI is like a designer who is super talented but doesn't listen. It'll get you a hot sketch, but it won't capture exactly what you've asked for.
Visualization-
I'm impressed. AI is very good at producing high-fidelity visuals very quickly. If your product idea is simple and you have the patience to feed AI the right prompts, you can get an image more impressive than you had imagined.
In short, AI is currently more random than it is controllable, making it not yet super helpful for product innovation.