"The more I look into where the state of the art is with AI and how it is being developed in the software and digital design space, the more I'm convinced the role of what we now know as UI, UX, Product Design, Usability—or whatever label you put on it—will be gone within 5 to 10 years. The role itself will become a tool for others to use, and the cost for design as a role inside a company will go to zero. The new host of AI tools and how they are developing is the Napster moment for designers. My prediction for where this goes: The majority of designers in the technology sector as we know them today will split into two major directions, with a third direction for a small minority of those who dive deep into craft. The first direction will be towards product management, product owner, product lead, marketing manager, or creative director. Designers who want to be more involved with the business today will find themselves needing to compete with folks already in this role. The AI tools of the near future will allow these roles to take full control over the things they already have accountability for, and be able to execute at a level that is far more efficient than in the past. Most designers will be at a disadvantage here as they'll need to level up their business knowledge and acumen, while product managers will only need to acquire taste for what constitutes well designed products. The second direction will be towards researchers, and research oriented roles. These will be designers who have more of an affinity to customers, the overall user experience, and other questions in this regard. Researchers will be able to design and build product ideas directly off their research work with these new tools. Things like accessibility, inclusivity, culture appropriateness, clarity, usability, and other important topics in the current UX field will be easily baked into products using AI tools, so one of the big question for researchers in the future will be where to take the work once that stuff is solved. Many designers won't be at a disadvantage here, but they certainly have a lot of catching up to do with real experience when it comes to research and practice. The third direction will be a small minority, but this will be towards design as engineering. Design systems are only a start, but once a few of them have been baked, they'll act as a decent prior for all of the design tools to work from for product managers and researchers. Much in the same way only a few typefaces are really needed for 90% of commercial graphic design work out there. The designers that go this way—I consider myself one—will need to take deep dives into a host of technical and engineering issues in order to continue to help shape and mold what AI tools can do, and create entirely new classes of products not possible at the current moment. A new world is coming whether we like it or not. There's still time to get ready though."