Metalab's Chief Design Officer offers 5 critical mindset shifts that her industry-leading team has learned integrating AI into Uber, The Atlantic, Midjourney, Suno, and more
This discussion on AI as a relationship, rather than just a tool, is an essential reframing. If AI is shaping how we work, create, and structure decision-making, then we have to ask: who is adapting to whom?
The mindset shifts Sara Vienna outlines—moving from overwhelming to curated, from generic to unique—highlight how AI is already reshaping perception, prioritization, and workflows. But I can’t help but think of how AI subtly structures not just creative work, but governance itself.
Take the DOGE email compliance exercise in the U.S. federal government. On the surface, it was a simple status report request. In reality, it was an AI-driven structuring mechanism—governing what counted as visible, what was reinforced, and how employees unconsciously optimized their responses. Much like design, governance is becoming less about static policies and more about dynamic AI-shaped interactions. (Because what is "governance" [in recursion] if not "design.")
If designers are already adapting their workflows to AI, and AI governance is already shaping behaviors before traditional experts and authorities catch up—at what point do we recognize that AI isn’t just shaping work, but structuring power itself?
This discussion on AI as a relationship, rather than just a tool, is an essential reframing. If AI is shaping how we work, create, and structure decision-making, then we have to ask: who is adapting to whom?
The mindset shifts Sara Vienna outlines—moving from overwhelming to curated, from generic to unique—highlight how AI is already reshaping perception, prioritization, and workflows. But I can’t help but think of how AI subtly structures not just creative work, but governance itself.
Take the DOGE email compliance exercise in the U.S. federal government. On the surface, it was a simple status report request. In reality, it was an AI-driven structuring mechanism—governing what counted as visible, what was reinforced, and how employees unconsciously optimized their responses. Much like design, governance is becoming less about static policies and more about dynamic AI-shaped interactions. (Because what is "governance" [in recursion] if not "design.")
If designers are already adapting their workflows to AI, and AI governance is already shaping behaviors before traditional experts and authorities catch up—at what point do we recognize that AI isn’t just shaping work, but structuring power itself?