AI in design and code: what actually helps

AI is either going to replace designers and developers, or it's a useless toy — depending on which post you read last. The truth is more boring and more useful: it's a very good assistant that's dangerous when you let it drive.

Here's where it actually helps us build products — and where it doesn't.

Where it earns its place

• First drafts — boilerplate code, a rough layout, a starting copy pass. Getting from blank page to something to react to is faster.
• Grunt work — refactors, test scaffolding, converting a token set, the tedious parts.
• Exploration — "show me five directions" is genuinely useful before you commit.

Where it quietly slows you down

• Judgment — AI is confident and often wrong. It doesn't know your user, your constraints, or why the obvious answer is a trap.
• Consistency — it'll happily invent a sixth button style. Systems and taste still come from you.
• Polish — the last 10% that makes something feel considered is still hand work.

AI raises the floor, not the ceiling. It makes average work faster to reach and makes great work no easier — that still takes a point of view.

We use it as an accelerant on the parts that don't need judgment, never as a replacement for it. Curious how AI sees your own site? That's exactly what we built Lens for.