Concern is lonely, curiosity is experienced together.

I recently attended a panel discussion at NSCAD design week featuring Don Norman. I was so excited to hear this legend speak, but my stomach dropped when I realized this would be (yet another) talk about how we need to embrace AI.

Don was asked for a word to describe what makes a successful designer today. His response? Concern. Concern is a triggering word. I leaned in, waiting for the moment where my (very optimistic) view of the future of UX would be crushed.

Early in the discussion, a young student on the panel raised concern about AI fatigue, seeing that her colleagues are rejecting generic AI content. As the conversation continued, she reverted her (only slightly anti-AI) stance. I think it was out of discomfort, with the progression of the conversation moving in an ‘AI positive’ direction.

I wanted to yell up at her to ‘Stick to your guns! Argue the other side! Debate!’.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire the ability to be flexible in opinions, but this felt like peer pressure. No one wants to be left behind, but being critical doesn’t mean you’re closed off. Quite the opposite.

There’s a tense and meaningful conversation to be had about human value, that starts with critique of AI. Instead of taking a critical approach, the talk centred around how AI can be used. Nothing beyond production and research assistant, and nothing about the impact it has on our learning and creativity.

There are so many important conversations to be had.

I want to talk about how we have entire generations starving for human connection, buried in superficial social media. How we live in a world built for capitalism, designed for only a select few to succeed. How polarizing views are being rewarded by manipulative algorithms designed to keep us hooked.

I want to talk about how people are fighting against a system designed for the few. How we lift each-other up, come together, and create meaningful connection. How we can reconnect with nature and create inner peace. How we can design a life true to our selves, while functioning in our built parameters.

We’re spending all this time talking about AI – can we at least try to keep the big purpose part of the discussion?

Pay attention to who’s talking.

Businesses are clinging to AI for dear life, hoping it’s the key. But their concern tends to be profit – and those big conversations I want to have? They’re about individuals. Messy multitudes of individuals.

Remember who is set to benefit, and who pays. Evidence is already showing that it’s the creators that are paying the cost – with the biggest copyright infringement case in history, Anthropic was sued for $1.5 billion for training Claude without author permission. Among many others like The New York Times and Getty Images suing OpenAI and Stable Diffusion for content scraping of millions of copyrighted photos and articles.

Don’t be concerned – be human, be curious.

I have to disagree with Don. What makes a successful designer today, is not ‘concern’. Concern is scared, curiosity is ready. Concern is timid, curiosity is open. Concern is lonely, curiosity is experienced together.

Keep questioning the meaning, the direction, the purpose. Stay present. Connect with your fellow creators and communities. And most importantly, stay human.