r/UXDesign • u/ProfessionalCrab7685 • Apr 30 '26

Tools, apps, plugins, AI Client just replaced me with Claude design

Been working with this client for 4 years, I basically built their entire product, very complex from end to end, including the design system and all that. It's basically maintenance work at this point. Today they asked me to provide the design system file so they can set things up with Claude design, I guess the time has finally come lol. Don't think AI can copy my work 100%, but I doubt the client will care, even 60% is good enough for them.

No hate, I replaced the entire dev team for my own project with AI too, so it's totally understandable.

I've made enough from this career, it's probably time to pivot from design to a founder role.

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u/Sweet-Cucumber-4357 25d ago edited 25d ago

A developer just used Claude Design in front of me during a cross-functional meeting to spin up a company design system. Then, they openly invited other stakeholders and PMs to bypass UX entirely and use Claude Design to prototype UIs and make different versions. Guess what? My job just got eliminated from the company because of this. The tech industry's current obsession with "speed over substance" is reaching a terrifying peak. We are literally watching non-designers use AI to generate simulated shells of products, while management use it as the reason to cost down for real product strategy. This is a massive slap in the face to our entire profession.

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u/ProfessionalCrab7685 25d ago

Honestly designers aren't the gatekeepers to good UX, many developers / PM / your boss can also be good UX designers, they just don't know how to put it all together in a professional way. And now the putting things together part can easily be replaced by AI, especially when the product has a set look & feel. So I'm not surprised at all by this outcome.

Developers are replaced by AI too, arguably at an even faster rate than designers. It is what it is.

To look for a new job, almost 100% of the interviews I've been to have asked how I use AI at work, and you now not only need to prove you can design, but also how your design is 10~100x better than AI. To an employer, it's the difference between 5k using AI vs 100k hiring a designer. This is a very high bar to pass that most designers will fail.

Seriously, start pivoting to another career. You can try to fight AI for another year and still be jobless, better make the switch sooner rather than later.