AI for visual collaboration: AI diagrams and brainstorms

Whether you realize it or not, AI has an impact on your daily life. For example, your favorite streaming platform uses AI to analyze the types of movies and TV shows you watch. It then makes recommendations based on your interests, so you don't have to spend a lot of time searching for something to watch.

In the workplace, today's AI technologies are here to help us be more productive, efficient, creative, and collaborative. And as more teams adopt AI-powered diagramming, a key differentiator becomes how you communicate what you want—because effective prompting can dramatically improve the quality of AI-generated visuals.

In this article, we go over the benefits of using AI in both diagramming and brainstorming.

Benefits of using AI with visual collaboration

The adoption of AI is accelerating rapidly across a wide range of industries. According to Grand View Research, the annual AI growth rate is expected to be 37.3% between 2023 and 2030.

So it makes sense that AI can be used to help you create diagrams and other visual aids. Here are some of the benefits that you might see when you integrate AI with diagramming and brainstorming:

Save time and effort

AI systems based on natural language processing (NLP) can automatically draw diagrams based on textual descriptions or data. For example, a step-by-step written process can be converted into a flowchart. Or, a graph might be generated from a set of numerical data. Rather than fiddling with shapes and lines, you can simply ask the AI to produce a diagram for you. Within seconds, a beautiful, editable diagram will pop up on your canvas. This shift helps teams spend less time on mechanics and more time on higher-value work, such as analysis, alignment, and decision-making.

Enhance diagram understanding

AI diagram generators can help you present complex ideas in an easily accessible and understandable visual format. This makes it easier for your audience to understand the content. Additionally, AI systems using computer vision algorithms can recognize shapes and patterns, providing a better understanding of the relationships within a task or process. Whether you're a visual thinker, a planner, or a hands-on problem solver, AI brings clarity to complex systems and processes.

Improve collaboration

Visual collaboration platforms like Lucid offer real-time collaboration for dispersed teams. AI benefits these collaboration platforms by offering users suggestions, helping synthesize data, and more. These capabilities help to enhance communication and coordination across a team. Because AI-generated diagrams are editable, teams can quickly co-review a first draft, identify gaps, and converge on a shared understanding faster than starting from a blank canvas.

Automate diagram editing

It's easier to modify AI-generated diagrams with predictive text and auto-complete features. These features save time and effort as you add new or edit existing elements on a diagram. Best of all, with Lucid's AI diagramming capabilities, you can iterate and refine your text prompts to adjust the layout, add details, or reorganize information to better fit your needs. This flexibility ensures that you can craft the perfect visual representation of your ideas, all while saving time and working more productively.

Generate ideas

Systems using generative AI can help you jump-start a brainstorming session. Simply enter keywords or phrases, and AI can automatically generate a list of ideas related to the topic you want to discuss.

Be more organized

AI can help you organize data and enhance searching capabilities so it’s easier for team members to find and retrieve relevant information from diagrams. This ability helps promote knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Automate routine tasks

Automating routine or repetitive processes, such as scheduling tasks and managing workflows, frees up your team to work on more complicated tasks in a project.

Personalize visualizations

Based on user preferences and needs, AI can customize data visualizations to ensure the information meets each individual's requirements, enabling them to take the appropriate action.
To get the most from these benefits—especially speed, clarity, and editability—it helps to know how to write prompts that guide the AI toward the diagram you actually need.

AI in Lucid

There are a variety of AI capabilities already available in Lucid, and even more are on the way!

Lucid AI

Visualize complex data faster by typing in a prompt to auto-generate a flowchart, sequence diagram, class diagram, ERD, or other diagrams. Continue iterating on the diagram with AI prompts until your visual is exactly what you're looking for. 

For example, you might start with a process you want to document and ask for a detailed flowchart; then, in follow-up prompts, request additional details like required documentation, key decision criteria, or alternate paths. 

Tips for writing stronger AI diagram prompts

The quality of an AI-generated diagram often depends on the quality of the input. Here are a few practical prompt-writing techniques you can use when generating diagrams in Lucidchart.

Be specific: When it comes to writing diagramming prompts, the juicy details matter. The more granular you get in your descriptions, the more powerful the diagram. When writing your prompts, it's important to be specific in what you want. And if you don't know exactly what you want, start simple and see what the AI generates. From there, you can use the result as inspiration and tailor the prompt to be more detailed. This practice will yield a more polished and accurate diagram.

For example, instead of this high-level prompt: Generate a flowchart for buying a dog.

Try this detailed prompt: Generate a flowchart for adopting a medium-sized dog from the Lucidtown Animal Shelter. Include a shopping list of some essentials that I need to purchase ahead of time before bringing home my new pet.

Pro tip: We suggest asking direct questions and limiting open-ended questions to get the best results.

Be natural: Use natural language when writing your AI diagramming prompts. AI LLMs (language learning models) are trained on human data, so write like you're writing an email to a colleague.

Here's a mediocre prompt: Diagram for applying for a loan with key stages of process, including decisions or approvals.

While this is okay, let's try again, using more natural language.

Prompt: Can you create a diagram for applying for a loan? The goal is to provide clarity to first-time loan applicants. Outline key stages of the process and point out any necessary documentation or identification needed during these stages. Incorporate any important decisions or approvals that may occur during the process, specifying the factors that are considered when making a decision on whether to approve or deny a loan application.

Iterate: Creating the perfect diagram might take some time, and that's normal. The first diagram you generate may not be the final visualization you share with stakeholders. In Lucid, it's easier than ever to edit your original prompt and fine-tune the details.

Through iterations, you can play a more active role in the result. When collaborating with teammates, iterating is especially helpful because it lets you easily make changes, stay aligned, and visualize multiple outcomes.

Edit your AI diagramming prompt in Lucid by clicking the text box and typing! And if you need a little help with what to say, toggle on the Enhance Prompt feature to give more details.

Integrate: Another great way to get the most out of Lucid's diagramming capabilities is by integrating with popular apps. What used to take hours now takes minutes by integrating and diagramming in Lucid. Boost productivity, create clarity, and diagram efficiently with seamless integrations like:

• ChatGPT: Auto-generate diagrams within ChatGPT and get an editable link that you can use within Lucidchart.
• Microsoft Copilot: Use Microsoft Copilot to surface relevant documents and links when you need them, including Lucid docs in your Copilot app.
• Microsoft Graph: Interact with data stored across Microsoft products and search and retrieve Lucid documents inside Microsoft 365.
• Microsoft Teams Bot: Summarize a Lucid document without leaving Teams.
• Slack: Share a Lucid document in Slack and quickly summarize the contents of that document.

Integration with OpenAI ChatGPT

Want to create a ChatGPT diagram? ChatGPT+ users can use Lucid Custom GPT to quickly generate diagrams. Based on the descriptive text you enter in ChatGPT, Lucid Custom GPT will generate a preview image of your diagram. The diagram can then be edited and shared in Lucidchart.

AI prompt flow

Lucidchart has an AI Prompt Flow extension that you can use to improve how your LLM responds to user prompts. The extension lets you build AI flow models with multiple user inputs using sample interactions.

Not only is AI being adopted at an accelerated rate, but AI technology is also evolving rapidly. With more AI tools becoming available, the emergence of talented AI developers, and continued research, AI will become more prevalent, making it easier to get work done.

As you adopt AI in your workplace, be sure to explore the AI features available in Lucid so that you can combine the power of AI with the power of visual collaboration.