AI & UX Design: Why the Experience Becomes the Moat

I think AI will create more demand for designers than we’ve ever seen.

I know that’s a big claim, especially when I keep seeing posts about AI taking design jobs. But there’s an idea called Jevons Paradox that makes me think we should look at this differently.

I first learned about it on a podcast a few months ago, and it immediately caught my attention. It came back to mind while listening to Ed Elson talk with Tom Lee on Prof G Markets. I think it offers a useful perspective on AI and UX design.

What Jevons Paradox tells us about efficiency

In the 1800s, a common belief was that making steam engines more efficient would reduce coal consumption and make supplies last longer.

But economist William Stanley Jevons observed that greater efficiency helped expand its use. Coal-powered machinery became more economical, more industries could put it to work, and overall consumption grew.

That’s the idea behind Jevons Paradox: efficiency can expand demand enough to increase total consumption.

Jevons also connected this reasoning to employment. He acknowledged that machinery could initially displace workers, then argued that cheaper products could generate enough demand to expand employment over time. He discussed both ideas in The Coal Question, published in 1865.

What happens when more companies can build

Think about a company with an idea for a useful product that has always been too expensive to pursue. Or an internal tool that everyone struggles with, but nobody has had the time to improve.

As AI reduces the effort involved in exploring and building those ideas, more of them may become practical. Teams can attempt projects they previously couldn’t justify.

That could create more demand for design, even as individual tasks require less time.

It also means more products could be competing to solve similar problems. And when competitors can build similar technology, the experience becomes the moat: the reason someone chooses a product and keeps coming back.

The experience gives people a reason to choose

Imagine two scheduling products with similar features. Both let someone find an appointment, book it, and receive a reminder.

One presents a crowded calendar, unfamiliar labels, and an unclear confirmation. The other helps the person find the right option, understand what they’re booking, and feel confident that everything is taken care of.

That difference comes from decisions about what to show, what to explain, how to organize information, and what someone needs at each step. Visual design contributes, too. Typography, spacing, color, and consistency all shape how an experience feels.

These are the kinds of decisions we work through when helping teams with product design. They connect what a company wants to build with what someone actually needs to use it.

Design and development each need attention

I’ve worked with some incredible developers, and that experience has given me a real appreciation for how different design and development are. Both require expertise. Being excellent at one doesn’t automatically make someone excellent at the other.

Making something work and shaping how someone experiences it each deserve that attention, even as AI helps with parts of both disciplines.

For a company exploring a new product or feature, I’d start with three questions:

• What should someone be able to accomplish more easily?

• Where might they feel confused, uncertain, or overwhelmed?

• What would give them a reason to choose this experience again?

Those questions can expose problems worth solving before a team invests in building more.

Why I’m optimistic about the future of design

Jevons Paradox doesn’t establish what will happen to design jobs. More products can be built by smaller teams, and the disruption people are experiencing today is real.

But I think we could be heading toward a point where companies need more UX, product, and graphic designers than ever before. As more products become possible, more companies will need help creating an experience worth choosing.

As the technology becomes more accessible, I believe the people who understand how to make it useful, thoughtful, and enjoyable will have a bigger role to play.