Where should I begin? There are several reasons not to use AI on design work. The obvious being that you can either copy or design. The two are by definition mutually exclusive. Let’s elaborate on that for a bit. While AI can be useful for analyzing large amounts of data, it’s not very good at abstract work such as design. AI generates its output by predicting the most probable combination of content from the data it’s trained on and it doesn’t know whether it’s right or wrong. It’s therefore very prone to making mistakes. AI is also incapable of innovating anything new, it duplicates information that may or may not fit the prompt. A designer, however is always looking for a solution, whether it's something that's already been done or something entirely new. Every single UI pattern you use was invented and refined by a human as a solution for a problem. Coming up with new patterns requires a deep understanding of the users, the surrounding context and usability.

While there are AI features on UI design tools like Figma, they really don’t have any intelligence in them. A layout drawn by an AI can certainly look nice if the AI itself is trained with beautiful layouts, exactly because it’s duplicating patterns, working as a copier. It’s important to note that good looking doesn’t equal usable. AI cannot understand abstract concepts like business needs and user needs. It cannot balance the two out to create a user experience that benefits both in a safe and sustainable way. Moreover, AI cannot understand social factors, such as religions, culture or disabilities, or concepts like inclusiveness. AI also doesn’t understand semantics and intuitivity, which are some of the basic concepts that make a good user experience.

I purposefully steer away from AI on concepting and ideation as well. AI is often used for cutting corners, and when I’m designing for a client, I don’t want to cut corners. I want to have a clear understanding of what I’m designing, to who I’m designing for and why. In other words, I want to gain a holistic understanding of what I’m working on. If I cut corners and let an AI answer these questions for me, I’ll risk exchanging quality for a bit of time saved. Another reason I want to avoid cutting corners is self development. Even now, several studies have stated the obvious; Cognitive offloading is bad for creative thinking. If you stop exercising, your muscles will grow weak. Unfortunately the same applies to your brain too.

The environmental point of view

The environmental cost is often an overlooked part of the conversation. We’re already struggling with climate change and the data centers that power our AI use an astronomical amount of electricity and water to function. Should we really be wasting so many resources on something we could have achieved ourselves in pretty much the same amount of time (counting in all the fact-checking and error fixing)? That’s a question everyone should ask themselves. It's one thing to use AI for operations that are simply too large for manual work, but using AI for trivial tasks on expert work is often difficult to justify.

What do you think?

If you read this far, I salute you. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, I’d like to hear your opinion. I’m happy to discuss the topic so if you want to challenge my opinion or give your two cents, hit me up.

♥ Sami Sildén, a designer
01/2026