The next revolution in AI isn’t another tool, it’s a reconstruction of how organizations think, act, and create meaning.

Strategist and designer Kwame Nyanning (Partner & Chief Design Officer at EY Seren) argues that the companies who win the agentic era won’t be the fastest to automate — they’ll be the first to redesign their ontology: the invisible system of goals, relationships, and decisions that define value. His book Agentics, How to design AI agents for impact, growth & innovations reframes AI not as a tool, but as a design medium for intent, alignment, and emergence.

What you’ll learn:

➤ How agentic systems blur the line between user, product, and enterprise—and what it means to lead in that new reality.

➤ Why design is shifting from pixel-perfect outputs to intent-perfect systems, where meaning and business-redefining ontology drives performance.

➤ Why the real risk of automation isn’t lost jobs but lost meaning, and how friction, constraint, and emotion become the new luxury.

➤ How agencies and teams can thrive by trading efficiency for proof of alignment and outcomes that matter.

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This is episode 45 of the Design of AI Podcast. 

And please make sure to rate this podcast if you find it valuable. Your podcast ratings and comments are the best way to influence which topics we cover in future episodes. 

And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at ⁠https://designofai.substack.com/⁠ 

Our next AI Product Strategy workshop is happening on November 20.

In this 3-hour online workshop you’ll leverage our framework for discovering and pressure-testing disruptive AI product ideas. Get more info at designof.ai/workshop 

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This episode was hosted by:

Arpy Dragffy Guerrero ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/⁠ 

Brittany Hobbs  ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/⁠

This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at ⁠PH1.ca⁠

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Kwame Nyanning is a strategist, designer, and thought leader working at the intersection of AI, enterprise transformation, and human-centered design. Formerly with McKinsey, Frog, and Infosys, and now embedded in EY Saren, Kwame’s work explores how organizations must move beyond incremental automation and instead reimagine their very ontology — the foundational logic of how value and meaning are created.

Follow him on Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kwamenyanning

Buy his must-read book here Available in paperback or Kindle.

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