Weathering the AI/UX Tsunami
Weathering the AI/UX Tsunami
Every other post in my feed lately is about how AI is replacing UX designers. While the advent of new AI tech enabling some semblance of UI design definitely has companies examining their options, the panic and hyperbole may not be warranted.
Before I can write the rest of this I need to clarify for the uninitiated that UX design and UI design are not the same thing. People who work in UX know this. Most other people couldn’t explain the difference. So when you hear someone say “AI is replacing UX designers,” it’s almost certainly someone in that latter group. And sadly, that latter group tends to include corporate decisionmakers. So what they really mean is, “Golly gee wiz, AI can make screen designs now! Why am I paying humans to do it?” And yes, that sentiment is already being felt in the job market.
The misunderstanding is the root problem. When you pile on all this new AI tech, it makes it all the more important that people in UX learn to articulate the value they bring. We have historically not done a very good job of this. So this wave of uncertainty is going to wash over us in the coming months. The tsunami has made landfall. We just have to wait it out.
But it will pass. I’ll tell you why.
Imagine the spectrum of corporate adoption strategies. On one end you’ve got “The Great Replacement” strategy. On the other end you’ve got “The Ostrich” strategy. And finally in the middle you’ve got “The Level-Up” strategy.
The Great Replacement Strategy
Adopters who opt to eliminate UX roles in favor of AI tools are likely driven by a cost-cutting mindset and a myopic belief that AI can handle user-centered design (which, you’ll remember, they don’t know what that is). They’ll appoint non-designers to compose the prompts for the AI tools. The outcomes of this approach could show some short-term cost savings, but will almost certainly show a degradation of product quality. The strategic thinking and user empathy that makes products usable and lovable will begin to erode. Inconsistent implementations due to lack of design governance will bleed into the code increasing technical debt. And finally the metrics that impact the bottom line, like conversions & upgrades, NPS & CSAT scores, feature adoption rates, and support ticket volume, will start to tell the story of where they went wrong. Eventually they’ll figure it out, if they stay in business long enough.
The Ostrich Strategy
Organizations that are too risk-averse or are unwilling (or unable) to invest in change management and learning new workflows will take the opposite tack and maintain traditional UX teams without any AI integration. They’ll stick with what’s been working for them thus far. Their outcomes might still be pretty good in terms of metrics, but they run the risk of losing ground as competitors in the “Level-Up Strategy” group surpass them. They’ll also start to notice employee retention issues as designers roll off to seek more future-proof career opportunities.
The Level-Up Strategy
Companies with the smartest leadership and more mature internal UX organizations will see the possibilities of AI for exactly what they are – a powerful new addition to their UX design tool bag. They will learn how to offload work to AI tools that they can do well such as data parsing, routine tasks, rapid iteration, automated design reviews, and deep research. Humans will do the things that (as of yet) only humans can do at an accelerated pace. Things like strategic contextual problem solving, extending empathy to understand their users’ unspoken needs, observational research, storytelling, design system stewardship… and the list goes on. These companies will make better products faster while retaining their most talented employees. They will win.
So to all UX people: if you’re not already an early adopter of AI tools, now is a good time to get busy learning.
And to all companies considering where they might fall on the above spectrum: go hire some smart, empathetic UX designers and provide the means for them to continually level-up their AI chops.
Now let’s all get on our surfboards and ride this wave!
