When I use AI in my design work, I’m not outsourcing my thinking. I’m speeding up the parts of the process where speed is actually valuable, generating options, exploring directions, getting a quick read on structure, so I can spend more time on the parts where my judgment matters. That’s a meaningful difference.

I use Claude for research. I’ve trained it over time to understand the tone and voice of the products I work on. When I save a screenshot of something that inspired me, I send it over and it helps me remember why I saved it, what the design is actually doing, and how it connects to whatever I’m building now. That’s not impressive. It’s just useful.

I’ve also given it instructions for UX writing — the tone, the constraints, who the users are. When it gives me copy suggestions, I don’t paste them straight in. I read them against the product’s voice and ask whether they’re actually clear for the user. Sometimes I run tests to find out.