As part of Hyper Island’s Industry Research Project (IRP), I looked at how junior UX designers should adapt in an AI-accelerated industry, and which core abilities stay resilient as execution-heavy work gets automated and commoditised.

When I started the project, I focused on the disappearance of entry-level UX design jobs, an issue that felt increasingly relevant. The causes are mixed: a slow economy, global uncertainty, and although AI isn’t the main reason, it’s still eating up entry-level tasks or making them easier.

In design, it’s not the entry-level tasks that are most affected, but the early exploration ones: generating first drafts, alternative layouts, or draft UX copy. And it’s only getting better over time, relentlessly devaluing a human designer. A founder or business-minded person might think, why do we need to hire a human designer if we can just subscribe for 20 bucks? Or, we just need one conductor to orchestrate LLMs to design, code, and write copy.

Sitting with that reality pushed me into two different states of thinking.

One was defensive. It’s the mode where you look for what AI can’t do, what it can’t replace. I found things like curiosity, judgment, empathy, connecting ideas, systems thinking, and problem solving. Are these new skills? Not really. They’ve just been buried under conversations about pixel-perfect work, design systems, and cool micro-interactions.

The other was more opportunistic. It’s seeing AI in a more positive light, as a real opportunity to make our work better. When I interviewed leaders and designers who use AI, a recurring theme emerged:
“AI is just a tool.”
“It’s only as good as the person using it and that person’s depth in their domain.”
Good judgment complements the use of AI, and to develop good judgment, you need other skills: synthesis, critical thinking, systems thinking, and the ability to frame or reframe a lens.

Looking at it from both sides, the need to protect and the chance to grow point to the same thing: human skills. The very abilities that make us human are what make us more valuable and make the use of AI more effective.

Image credit: Luke Skywalker and C-3PO in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) © Lucasfilm / Disney.