In this moment of huge change, many people talk about AI like it is a thing that replaces humans. But I see something different. I see AI as a new material. A material that feels alive, powerful, and confusing at the same time. To work with it well, we need not only idea makers, but builders, people who know how to shape, test, refine, and ship. This, I believe, is the future of craft.
Craft used to mean hands making things with wood or metal. Now craft means hands shaping ideas through code, data, and human understanding. The designers who can build not just sketch will be the ones leading the AI age.
AI Is Not Taste or Decoration. It Is Material
Recently, designers like Ryo Lu, Head of Design at Cursor, remind everyone that AI is not just “style” or “brand.” He mentions many times that AI outputs can look like “slop” the messy, generic aesthetic people get when they accept the first output.
He says good work comes from shaping the result, not just generating it. The designer must use AI the same way a sculptor uses clay.
This thinking changes design forever. In the past, many designers focused on visual beauty. Now, the world needs designers who think like engineers and makers.
You take what AI gives you, and you refine it with context, feedback, and judgement. Something the AI cannot do on its own.
Ryo also says that in AI-first teams, design and engineering are “muddy,” not separated. You build what you imagine, and you imagine what you can build.
This is what makes designers who code so powerful.
Craft Is About Getting Close to the Material
In old craft, you needed to know the tool, the chisel, the hammer, the grain of wood.
In AI craft, you need to understand the model, the behaviour, the strengths, the limitations.
Ryo’s own project, ryOS, shows this idea clearly. He used Cursor to build an entire operating system as a personal art-engineering experiment.
He didn’t just ask AI to generate code! he guided it, reshaped it, corrected it, and shipped something unique.
This is modern craftsmanship:
You don’t ask AI for perfection. You iterate until the work becomes yours.
Iteration | Not Replication - Is Craft
The biggest mistake people make with AI is believing that the first output is the final answer.
But real craft is not about instant results, it is about refinement.
Ryo often describes good AI tools as “clay-like.”
You shape the material.
You push it until it becomes solid.
You add and remove until it feels right.
This is the exact behaviour of a designer-engineer:
You don’t decorate. You build.
Designers Who Build Are Irreplaceable
AI models are trained on public knowledge. They can generate everything they have seen.
But what they cannot generate is your personal taste, your experience, your judgement, your intention.
When you work directly with the material, code + AI + interaction, you create results that AI cannot produce alone.
This is how designers become irreplaceable in the AI age.
If you want to lead, you must:
understand how AI generates
refine AI output with your judgement
prototype real behaviours, not just screens
treat design like engineering
ship early and improve fast
This is true craft.
The Future Belongs to Builders
Tools will get more powerful. Models will get faster.
But the role of humans will not fade, it will evolve.
The future belongs to designers who can build with their own hands.
Designers who shape AI instead of just prompting it.
Designers who understand system behaviour, not only style.
Designers who make products that feel human, calm, predictable, and full of intention.
This is the new craft.
And this is why builders will lead the AI era & not because they compete with machines, but because they bring something machines cannot create:
taste, care, judgement, and soul.
References
1. Ryo Lu, Twitter/X
https://x.com/ryolu_
2. “Cursor’s Ryo Lu on Soulful Design” Interview on JDahl Substack
https://jdahl.substack.com/p/cursors-ryo-lu-on-soulful-design
3. WIRED, Coverage of Cursor and AI-driven design/engineering workflows
https://www.wired.com/story/cursor-launches-pro-design-tools-figma/
4. ryOS, Ryo Lu’s personal project built with Cursor
https://jdahl.substack.com/p/cursors-ryo-lu-on-soulful-design#heading-ryos
Credits:
Cover image: Cash Macanaya