Artificial intelligence in design is no longer a future fantasy—it’s a present reality. We already see real use cases where AI meaningfully extends a designer’s capabilities. It acts as a force multiplier, enabling individuals and teams to generate ideas, iterate faster, and explore directions that might not have otherwise surfaced.

One of the clearest early wins is in concept generation. Tools powered by generative AI can quickly produce mood boards and product concept renderings. It’s like having a team of digital interns ready to create visual alternatives immediately. This doesn’t just speed up workflows—it expands the scope ofbroadens creative exploration, which leads directly to higher quality solutions down the road. And on the textual side, AI can now simulate something as fundamental as brainstorming. When I started in design in the ’90s, it took eight people in a room for an hour to generate a wide set of ideas. Now, an AI collaborator can do that in seconds.

That’s where AI excels in the design process: during the divergent phase, where the goal is quantity and variety. Accuracy at this stage isn’t critical. After all, even human-generated ideas in a brainstorm are often messy, incomplete, or unviable. It’s in the convergence phase—where concepts are refined and validated—that human judgment becomes essential. AI can suggest, but it’s up to us to select.

Speed, in this context, isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about enabling more iterations. The design process has always been iterative; the more loops, the better the results. AI speeds up each phase, allowing for more cycles without expanding timelines. But with that speed comes risk. Shortcuts, if taken blindly, can amplify mistakes. Trusting AI output requires vigilance. Just as we verify the work of a new human colleague, we must vet the results AI gives us—at least for now. Trust is earned over time.

*Editor’s Note: This essay is part of a new series exploring how AI is transforming the way physical products are imagined, designed, and built. **Hardware is the New Salt *will spotlight several thinkers and makers at the intersection of AI and product design and their insights into this dynamic technology ecosystem. This series is supported by Enzzo, who offers an AI-first product development platform created to support the next generation of builders.

Beyond acceleration, AI also offers a path to greater personalization. By reducing the cost and complexity of the design process, it becomes feasible to create niche or even individualized products. Imagine designing a product not for a mass market, but for a market of one. That shift could dramatically improve how well products serve their users.

This opens up a larger, more philosophical question: do we want more products, or just better ones? AI has the potential to unleash a flood of new things, but it also risks contributing to overconsumption. We must embed the right values into the tools we build. But whose values? These tools are being developed around the world, with differing cultural norms and priorities. There will never be a single, universal moral framework encoded into AI.

Still, there’s an inspiring opportunity here: democratization. Just as the early web allowed individuals to become publishers, AI could make it possible for anyone to become a product designer. Pair that with rapid prototyping or additive manufacturing, and suddenly small businesses—or even individuals—can create meaningful products that corporations might overlook. That kind of empowerment could reshape the creative economy.

AI isn’t the first tech transformation I’ve seen in my decades in design. I learned to draft by hand with a pencil. Then came CAD, which allowed for organic forms we couldn’t previously imagine—some brilliant, others merely novel. With AI, we’re likely to go through a similar period of exploration and excess before the tools are correctly integrated into practice. The long-term success of AI in design will hinge on how well we use it to augment our human strengths, rather than simply react to its capabilities.

AI might feel different because it’s intelligent, or at least simulates intelligence. It doesn’t rely solely on the designer’s mind—it brings its own "ideas" to the table. That’s a new paradigm. But we should remember that it’s still a tool. And like all tools, its value depends on the hands and minds that wield it.

**About the author: ** Drew Bamford creates products, experiences and high functioning teams at the intersection of human desires and bleeding edge technologies. Recently, Drew has been teaching government agencies and nonprofits to use the tools of Design Thinking to make change in local and global communities. Previously, Drew led the global cross-functional team of researchers, designers and prototypers who craft the Prime Video experience that delivers entertainment to hundreds of millions of customers in over 200 territories around the world. Prior to joining Amazon, Drew spent 15 years driving the transformation of HTC’s business from ODM to global smartphone brand to spatial computing brand by fostering a design and innovation culture.

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