AI agents are already operating at what we consider an IC3 level in many design tasks.

They can generate flows, create interfaces, iterate on layouts, write microcopy, and produce work that would have been considered productive output from a mid-level designer not long ago.

Once that really sinks in, a lot starts to click.

For years, technology rewarded people who could produce. The more screens you could design, the more concepts you could explore, and the faster you could execute, the more leverage you had.

AI is rapidly reducing the cost of production.

Production is becoming abundant and judgment is becoming scarce. That’s why I believe designers who came up through traditional design disciplines are particularly well-positioned for what’s coming next.

Many of us spent years studying typography, hierarchy, color theory, composition, grid systems, rhythm, visual storytelling, and all the subtle details that make something feel clear, intuitive, and memorable.

The advantage goes beyond simply knowing design fundamentals, It’s learning how to think and develop judgement.

Traditional design education teaches you to make decisions. What deserves attention? What can be removed? What should someone feel? What’s the clearest way to communicate an idea? How do individual parts work together as a system?

Those skills become incredibly valuable when AI can generate almost anything.

AI can produce endless variations. It can create hundreds of screens in minutes. What it still needs is direction. It still needs someone to recognize what’s working, what isn’t, what feels right, and what should exist in the first place.

You can already see this playing out. AI-generated work is everywhere, yet strong design judgment remains relatively rare. Taste remains rare. At the same time, I think we’re underestimating how much AI is changing the way products get made.

For decades, software creation was divided between the people who imagined products and the people who built them. Designers designed. Engineers engineered. Ideas passed through layers of translation before they became reality. That separation shaped entire organizations, workflows, and careers.

AI is beginning to collapse that distance.

The person with the idea is increasingly becoming the person who can realize it. This is why I don’t view AI as another productivity tool. The shift feels much larger than that.

We’re moving from a world where creation required coordination between specialized roles to one where a single person can direct teams of agents toward an outcome. Instead of spending weeks documenting every decision, we’re increasingly defining intent, constraints, systems, and outcomes. Execution becomes more conversational. More iterative. More immediate.

I keep thinking about all the ideas I had over the years that never made it beyond a Figma file. Projects built for fun. Experiments with no PRD. Concepts that pushed far beyond what a company would prioritize.

Most of them stopped for the same reason: I couldn’t build them myself. They required engineers, funding, time, or all three. That constraint is disappearing.

For the first time, many designers can move from idea to working product without waiting for permission, resources, or a team to form around them. I don’t think we’re simply getting better tools. I think we’re witnessing a fundamental change in how products come into existence.

For years, designers were responsible for defining experiences while someone else was responsible for building them.

That distinction is starting to fade.

And for designers who understand systems, communication, visual thinking, and human behavior, that may be one of the most exciting opportunities we’ve ever seen.