AI is thought to advance and widen participation in the design process. But research suggests AI tools are most benefitting designers who already are high performers. That is, designers who know how to guide AI, how to integrate it with everyday design tasks as well as how to judge its output. Yet extensive use of AI tools, notably by entry-level or early career designers may hold back developing first hand observation and drawing skills as well as critical thinking and judgement. Or, why struggle with a problem when a chatbot can provide a neat, packaged response that might be regarded as "sufficient," or "good enough"? What then is the impact of AI on cognitive effort in matters of design? Could it be the case that in accelerating AI technology, "Man shapes AI and then AI shapes man"? That is, rather than based on human agency, AI models develop their own agency. That is, AI agents can also make decisions and take action to achieve a goal without human prompted. What, then is design and what makes a designer in the age of AI? If, say, human agency is finite, then what it means to be a designer is to grasp this finitude of designing, or "becoming one who is designing".
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