Staying Relevant with AI

Human beings are bad at predicting the future. It’s hard to really see what artificial intelligence will look like in the future, and for which professions it will come. OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has mentioned this lack of foresight, as initially it was assumed that AI would replace blue collar jobs first, before coming to for the creatives. Instead, creatives are wondering if machines can actually do the creative stuff that we initially thought only the human brain was capable of.

The truth is, we really don’t know how good these tools can get. 

What we do know is how to combat this fear. In centuries past, machines have threatened to steal away human jobs. Look at the Industrial Revolution, where the spinning jenny and steam engine automated or sped up tasks. How did this change the job market? It eliminated some tasks, but created opportunities for those who knew how to take advantage of the times.

In order to best prepare yourself as a designer in 2025, it’s best to know how to best utilize the tools that may be present for years to come. Let’s talk about them.

ChatGPT

Since the end of November of 2022, ChatGPT has been commonplace for even those outside of the tech world. Since its initial release, the software has been able to product more relevant and contextually accurate responses. Designers can use this to their advantage to use the software as a sort of assistant when it comes to UX writing or a means of brainstorming. Instead of blindly designing without research, ChatGPT can be a goldmine for information.

Figma AI

FIgma has recently entered the AI space, suggesting that its product will be improved by AI tools starting in 2024. While the goal is to speed up workflows, it’s important to remember that Figma is no longer a small company acting as David to Adobe’s Goliath. It’s now the powerhouse when it comes to design, so it’s likely that the entrance into the AI space is to appease shareholders. 

Still, the ability to automate the function of “replacing content” and “renaming layers” does sound pretty good. It allows designers to spend more time actually designing, which is what we’re getting paid to do, afterall. 

Midjourney and Runway

It’s amazing to see the advancement of how far Midjourney has come in its many versions. Midjourney generates high-quality images based on textual prompts, meaning if we are able to master what we want to see, we may not need to rely on our own imaginations to picture what we can generate.

Runway, too, is an image-generation tool, but also boasts an easier interface and a video generation tool. While both focus on visual elements, Runway is not limited to still images. 

Perplexity AI 

Similar to ChatGPT, Perplexity provides accurate, trusted, and real-time answers to any question, sort of a cross between a Google and ChatGPT. While ChatGPT is more of a conversational tool, Perplexity may be the next big thing in search, unless Google could continue to deliver incredible products (such as with Gemini).

Grok AI

Grok AI is different because it is connected to X.com. Because it is Elon Musk’s attempt at an AI chatbot, this particular software has access to realtime information from X.com, something that, at the moment, other forms of AI may be limited to. Still, this does mean that Grok may be successtable to false information, something that has run rampant in social media platforms.

Descript

Descript’s AI transcription feature automatically converts audio and video into text, saving hours of manual transcription, making it so much easier to edit podcasts and videos versus how it has been done in the past. This is a perfect example of technology has made tedious tasks a lot more manageable to modern users.

Conclusion

This only scratches the surface of how AI tools have really changed how designers can work. It’s not the tools that will replace the designers, but rather, there are now new skills that will be essential to the designers of tomorrow. In order to remain relevant, it’s important to know these skills and how they work. If you know this, you can become an expert on how these tools work.

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Hi, I’m Jon, a UX and Product Designer from Brooklyn, New York. I write the Design Breadcrumbs newsletter to express my own thoughts on the design world, freelancing, and career advancement. Subscribe to get this news delivered to your inbox every week.