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© 2026 Dan Saffer and Nik Martelaro
Description
Two Carnegie Mellon faculty explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of design. Each week, we'll break down the latest AI developments, dive deep into AI topics that matter to designers, and talk with fascinating guests who are right at the intersection of these fields.
All views expressed are our own and not reflective of Carnegie Mellon or the Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
8 Episodes
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Dan and Nik delve into the evolving role of designers in the age of AI, emphasizing the need for adaptability, control of your own process, and how vision and judgement are design's superpowers. This episode explores the impact of AI on the design process, the importance of maintaining focus on the work, and the challenges of keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the industry.
Nik and Dan talk about another announcement from Figma and Anthropic and the impact on the future of design tools. They examine a new research paper from Apple and the HCII on how to best design computer use agents, and talk about Wes McKinney's article The Mythical Agent-Month. They end with discussing the role of taste in an AI world and if it is the skill designers should be focusing on.
Dan and Nik delve into the Figma's 2026 State of the Designer Report, people feeling like AI is being shoved at them, the challenges related to AI's impact on flow and attention, and the Harvard Business Report's implications of AI on job satisfaction and work intensification.
Dan and Nik chat about OpenAI's new Frontier platform and what it might mean for designers and even their career paths. We then discuss James Harrison's essay "The Return of The Intuitive Designer." Then Dan interviews Shane Johnson, Principal User Researcher at Figma, on the role that user research has in this AI world.
Nik and Dan dive deep into Figma MCP and the need for a dual strategy for experience design, that considers both human and AI website visitors. Of course Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw came up. Some research on creativity, and finally the role of user researchers in the AI world.
Dan and Nik discuss the rumor of Google's AI Studio getting a design mode, Anthropic and DeepMind CEOs at Davos talking about the future of AI, Anthropic's Constitution for Claude, and the concept of software too cheap to meter.
Nik and Dan discuss Impeccable: a set of skills for AI agents to improve the "AI House Style" designs that AIs are churning out. Then, talking about a new research paper that suggests AI's greatest potential is as entertainment and cultural production. Lastly, we review Dan's article that categorizes four possible futures for AI, including AI disappearing into existing apps, specialized AI features, AI as an operating system, and AI as a universal intermediary.
On this week's episode, Nik and Dan discussed:Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout, a new feature that lets US shoppers complete purchases directly inside Copilot without ever leaving the chat window.Google's A2UI, an open-source specification that allows AI agents to generate user interfaces on the fly.And straight from CES, a holographic AI desk companion from Razer.Plus: our AI and Design Predictions for 2026.
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