The grief is real, and that's fine
Many of us resist AI, and the reasons are fair. But a lot of design work was routine checking, and AI does that part well now. That frees your attention for the work AI cannot do.
If your work is built on judgment, creativity, or design, you are probably asking the same question right now.
If your work is built on judgment, creativity, or design, you are probably asking the same question right now. What is my role after AI?
This is bigger than a new tool. The kind of thinking you are paid for is being redefined. So the real task is to work out how you do your work now, with AI as part of it.
AI tools often give one answer. They say your value is judgment and taste. That answer is correct. It is also too vague to act on.
I want to make it more concrete. I write here mostly about design, but it fits other thinking work too: strategy, product, research, writing.
The routine checking moved off your desk, so your attention is now free to.
If your work is built on judgment, creativity, or design, you are probably asking the same question right now.
The kind of thinking you are paid for is being redefined.
So the real task is to work out how you do your work now, with AI as part of it.
First, a word about resistance. Many designers push back hard against AI. The reasons are fair. The tools can feel clumsy. The push from managers can feel careless. The fear of losing a skill is real.
Still, it helps to separate two things. You can dislike a tool and learn it at the same time. When resistance becomes part of who you are, it gets harder to do good work.
It also helps to look at what actually changed. A large part of design work was routine. You checked the navigation. You handled the error states. You confirmed the form rules and the empty screens. This work mattered, and it took real attention.
AI now does much of that checking well. The work did not get easier. It moved off your desk.
So your attention is now free. The honest question is what you do with it. You can pour it into a faster version of the old routine. Or you can spend it on the part of the work that has no set answer yet.
The rest of this series is about that second path.
The kind of thinking you are paid for is being redefined.
The routine checking moved off your desk, so your attention is now free to spend elsewhere.
Many of us resist AI, and the reasons are fair. But a lot of design work was routine checking, and AI does that part well now. That frees your attention for the work AI cannot do.
This is the short version. Read the full-length essay, “Imagination is still a superpower”.
This issue is part of Everybody's Smart, a newsletter on taste, judgment, AI, culture, cognition, and the future of professional work. New issues every 2 to 3 weeks, free on LinkedIn.
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