AI is just another tool (and that's fine)

Designers and all sorts of people are losing their minds about AI-generated design. Half the industry is convinced it's the end of creativity. The other half is pumping out generic garbage and asking "Did I cook?".

Both sides are missing the point.

AI is a tool. That's it. Not a replacement. Not a shortcut to quality. Just another tool in the kit.

This exact panic happened before. When synthesizers hit the music scene, "real" musicians lost their shit. Electronic music wasn't real music. It was cheating. It lacked soul. Anyone could make music now, which meant music was dead.

Except music didn't die. Bad musicians made bad electronic music. Good musicians made Kraftwerk and Daft Punk and Aphex Twin. The tool didn't determine the quality, the person using it did.

The synthesizer didn't kill music. It just separated people who understood composition from people who thought owning a Fender Stratocaster made them Jimi fucking Hendrix. AI is doing the same thing for design right now.

Here's what I've noticed: Designers who actually understand their craft use AI to move faster. They generate variations quickly. They explore directions they wouldn't have time to manually mock up. They use it to handle the repetitive shit so they can focus on the decisions that actually matter. That is strategy, positioning and clarity. Things that make things work for this specific business.

Designers who don't understand their craft use AI to replace thinking. They generate a logo, call it done, and wonder why it looks like everyone else's. They treat it like a magic button that turns "make monke a logo" into a finished product. It's not. It's a tool that still requires judgment, taste, and an actual understanding of what good design is and does.

The slop isn't the AI's fault. It's the designer's fault. Or more accurately, it's not really a designer, it's someone who thinks owning Figma makes them a designer, the same way owning a synthesizer doesn't make you Daft Punk.

AI makes it faster to be good if you're already good. It also makes it faster to be bad if you're already bad. It's an accelerant. It multiplies whatever you bring to it.

I'm open about the use of AI. I use it to explore faster, generate options, handle tedious shit. But it doesn't replace the part where I have to think about what this brand actually needs, who it's for, what problem it solves, why it matters. That's still my job. The AI just helps me try more things before I pick the right one.

The designers freaking out about AI replacing them are usually the ones who weren't that good to begin with. They were already doing paint-by-numbers design by following templates, copying trends, delivering generic work. AI can do that. So yeah, if that's your skill level, you should be worried.

But if you actually understand strategy, positioning, what makes design work for a specific business? AI is just another tool that makes you faster. Like when Photoshop came out and everyone panicked that digital would kill real design. Or when the internet meant anyone could make a website. The tools changed. The skill requirements didn't.

Good designers got better. Bad designers got exposed. Same thing happening now.

So no, I don't think all AI equals slop. I think bad designers equal slop, and AI just makes them faster at it. Meanwhile, good designers are using the same tool to do better work in less time. Same as it ever was.