Episode

What Happens to Design After AI?

Podcast: The a16z Show
Published: Jun 24, 2026
Duration seconds: 2926
Processing state: not_requested
Canonical source: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/what-happens-to-design-after-ai-F7dGiPRT
Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/1344/afp-848985-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/3f86df7b-51c6-4101-88a2-550dba782de8/episodes/031105e9-13ef-4999-b5e0-c6a3b032de51/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=3f86df7b-51c6-4101-88a2-550dba782de8&awEpisodeId=031105e9-13ef-4999-b5e0-c6a3b032de51&feed=JGE3yC0V
JSON: /v1/public/podcasts/the-a16z-show-436525/episodes/what-happens-to-design-after-ai
Markdown: /podcast/the-a16z-show-436525/what-happens-to-design-after-ai.md

Actions

POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-a16z-show-436525/episodes/what-happens-to-design-after-ai/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-a16z-show-436525/what-happens-to-design-after-ai.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

Anish Acharya speaks with Microsoft VP of Design John Maeda and Impeccable founder and CEO Paul Bakaus about how AI is changing the practice of design. The conversation explores the relationship between design and technology, the rise of AI-powered creative tools, and whether automation raises the floor, the ceiling, or both. Maeda and Bakaus discuss software craftsmanship, taste, creative judgment, and why some aspects of design may become increasingly automated while others become more valuable. They also examine agentic workflows, the future of user experience, the role of designers in an AI-native world, and how new tools may reshape the relationship between designers, engineers, and software itself.