In the fall of 2023, I was asked to present on the state of AI image generation at The Creative Factor’s Salon. Until then, I’d treated tools like DALL·E and Midjourney as novelty—fun to experiment with, but not built for real workflows. They felt more like toys than tools.

But as I began digging into the newly released DALL·E 2, my perspective shifted fast. The speed, control, and visual precision it offered felt like a leap—not an iteration. It was the first time I saw clearly how quickly AI would start influencing creative work at a professional level. What once felt experimental suddenly felt urgent.

Since then, I’ve integrated AI into parts of my own process—especially in early-stage exploration. It helps unblock flows, stress-test ideas, and accelerate low-stakes iteration. But I still see it as an amplifier, not a replacement. The real work—understanding the problem, shaping intent, and building systems that scale—still requires the fundamentals.

That’s what I come back to. In this new era, design fundamentals don’t fade—they matter more. Knowing how to guide an experience, write a clear prompt, or structure a system with intent gives AI something meaningful to work with. Without that clarity, the results may be fast, but they’re often hollow.

AI is also blurring the boundaries between design, engineering, and research. I see that as a good thing. It pushes us to collaborate more openly, to ship faster—but also more intentionally. That’s where design can lead: by anchoring the conversation in user needs, structure, and craft.

The tools are evolving quickly. But the job is still the same: make things that are clear, useful, and human. AI just gives us new ways to get there—if we know how to steer.