Design Thinking in the AI era. Is a new hybrid model possible?

This thesis explores the intersection between Design Thinking and Artificial Intelligence, investigating how AI is transforming the human-centered methodology that has guided innovation over the past decade. Through an analysis of recent literature and empirical case studies, the research systematically examines AI's impact on each of the five Design Thinking phases: empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The findings reveal that the most transformed phases are define, ideate, and prototype, where AI excels in analyzing large volumes of data, rapidly generating creative solutions, and democratizing the digital prototyping process. Conversely, empathy and test remain the least impacted phases, confirming that emotional and contextual understanding still requires inherently human competencies. The research proposes a hybrid approach where AI and human intelligence collaborate in a co-creative partnership, leveraging their respective strengths: AI's computational power and speed on one hand, and human empathy, intuition, and ethical judgment on the other. A new methodological model is presented that integrates a "prompting" phase and redefines the roles of humans and machines throughout the process. The thesis concludes that, despite rapid technological evolution, the human factor will remain central to Design Thinking, with AI playing the role of amplifier rather than substitute for human creativity and empathy.