Embodied AI at Scale: XR, Platforms, and Spatial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to research labs or technical infrastructure—it is embedded in classrooms, creative practice, healthcare systems, communication platforms, and planetary-scale infrastructures. As AI systems move from experimental tools to everyday companions, decision-makers, and mediators of social life, the question is no longer whether AI will shape our future, but how—and by whom.

At the Design Lab, we approach AI not simply as an algorithmic achievement, but as a fundamentally human-centered design challenge. Intelligent systems must be technically robust, yet responsive to lived experience; powerful at scale, yet grounded in context; innovative, yet attentive to equity and responsibility. Across seven sessions, Design@Large in Spring 2026 brings together leading voices from research, industry, education, law, health, and the arts to explore how AI is designed, deployed, governed, and experienced in real-world settings. From generative AI in education and music to embodied intelligence in XR, from disability justice and communication to sustainable computing and Indigenous data sovereignty, and from personal AI companions to value-based care in health systems, the series examines AI where it meets people, institutions, and infrastructures.

Rather than treating AI as a purely technical system, we frame it as a site of negotiation among human values, institutional incentives, cultural norms, and material conditions. Each session pairs scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders to interrogate how design decisions shape agency, creativity, trust, access, and care at scale.

Design@Large is open to the broader public and livestreamed online, while also serving as a core seminar for over 100 undergraduate and graduate students at UC San Diego. Together, we ask: What does it mean to design AI responsibly? How do we ensure that intelligent systems amplify human capability without reproducing harm? And how can design guide AI toward more just, inclusive, and sustainable futures?

Embodied AI moves intelligence into physical and perceptual space through XR, wearables, and spatial computing platforms. This session examines how embodied systems are not only built but productized and scaled—connecting hardware platforms, interface design, and human factors. Bringing together industry and research perspectives, the discussion explores how spatial AI systems shape perception, movement, and interaction, and how design decisions determine whether embodied intelligence feels intuitive, trustworthy, or intrusive.

Ignacio Contreras is vice president at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., where he leads a product marketing team responsible for automotive, IoT, 5G/6G, AI, gaming, multimedia, network infrastructure, and data center. He joined Qualcomm in 2009 to support the expansion of 3G and 4G businesses in automotive and Internet of Things.Prior to his current role, Contreras managed media and analyst communications in support of automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) businesses. He led the team to achieve #1 IoT share-of-voice in U.S. among semiconductor companies in 1.5 years.Before he worked on media communications strategy in support of R&D and corporate technology marketing units. He also led the team responsible for content in C-level executive communications.

Before coming to Qualcomm, Contreras was a business development manager at Interra S.A. Engineering and Land Surveying Services and an assistant brand manager at Procter and Gamble.Contreras holds two patents relating to small cells and electric vehicle charging systems. He earned a BS in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Engineering Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He also earned an MBA, with an emphasis in Technology Strategy and Marketing, from UC Berkeley.

Ziad Ashgar

Neil Smith

Edith Goulet

https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/93410404411?pwd=KPPmU3zvbfaCHz3Q4R5QsCPCSyzrOq.1

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