‘We just have to experiment faster’: AI’s changed design forever. Now what?

Designers are now coders—or better be. Your interface is a moat—or irrelevant. Inside the dizzying chaos of how AI is upending the design profession, starring its high priests at Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor, Krea, and more.

I may have just seen the biggest interface breakthrough in years. Or not. But I think so? 

Things are moving so fast that it’s hard to tell.

Ryo Lu, head of design at the white-hot coding tool Cursor has invited me to their charcoal-hued San Francisco studio. Before anyone says hello, I’m greeted by a pile of footwear in the entry of the no-shoes open office. I suddenly regret my choice to wear my New Balance loafers without socks.

The softspoken Lu, donning the creative-approved uniform of flowy wide-legged pants and a button down, weaves me through desks—past half a sports bar’s worth of uptime monitors and a shelf of knicknacks including a New Jeans record and Bondi Blue iMac.

Maybe you’re a normie and you haven’t even heard of Cursor. That’s okay. It’s an AI coding startup at the vanguard of this movement that many now believe will reshape software as we know it. Cursor is aimed at serious development teams, but as we sit at his desk, Lu acknowledges that strength is also a weakness. If you’ve signed up for Cursor to........

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