Yup. To counter my own points a bit: I could also argue that the word "design" has a connotation strictly opposing emergent behaviour like evolution, as in the

Yup. To counter my own points a bit: I could also argue that the word "design" has a connotation strictly opposing emergent behaviour like evolution, as in the intelligent design "theory". So not the best word to use perhaps. And in your example, just because we made a system that exhibits emergent behaviour to some degree, we can't assume it can "design" intelligence the way evolution did, on a much, much shorter timeline, no less.