Product designer and educator Aliena Cai argues that AI is changing the work, but isn’t replacing one kind of product designer with another. I think her survey shows that replacement can happen without cutting jobs:
The survey found that 60% of design leaders actually expect to keep or grow design headcount. Only 10% of design leaders expect to reduce design headcount, and 8% of design leaders say they are shifting investment towards hybrid roles like design engineers. However, expectations for design talent have shifted. 50% of design leaders are looking for a greater emphasis on AI tool fluency when it comes to hiring. And 48% of design leaders are placing greater emphasis on systems thinking and strategic skills. I would just call it business sense or product sense.
If you’re a manager, you may have heard the terms “rotate people out” and “upskill the role.” That might be happening here. The number of design jobs may stay the same, but the requirements are changing. Experienced designers will be asked to use AI, think about the wider system, and understand the business. If they don’t, they’ll be managed out. People entering the field will face that higher bar from the start. Some who would have qualified for the old job won’t qualify for the new one.
AI fluency here means using the tools to make and revise working prototypes. Designers still need to understand the user and business problem, check what the tools produce, and decide what should ship. Cai gives similar advice:
Based on everything I shared today, I think that if you are an experienced product designer, then there are two things you can do right now to secure your career for the future. Number one is to improve AI fluency. And number two is improve your business sense. But AI fluency really doesn’t mean just using AI for everything, because AI, at the end of the day, is an amplification tool, and it amplifies your design skill and product sense. Just like I said, it brings great ideas to life faster, but it can also bring bad ideas to life faster.
I couldn’t agree more with the AI fluency point. That’s why I’ve been reading and writing about it for over a year.
