AI has pro's and cons.... it's great when it makes life easier but, and I've been watching it of late, it could potentially take out a lot of roles, not just in design. Will it completely remove the need for human interaction, no, will it massively reduce the number of people needed for the same roles, most definitely.
I can already see artists who specialise in concept art for movies, especially environment, losing jobs because you can go to an AI generator and describe your idea and it will produce something. Same goes for concept art for a new species of animal/alien. Just look at all the AI art that was being knocked up of late.
I can see AI being integrated into online platforms like squarespace where they'll use the AI to help with coding etc (you can already do this manually with chatgpt), or more 'design' focused ones where you say you want to produce a 'minimalist magazine', upload the images and the text and then it will produce a draft mockup, you do a bit of drag and drop and you end up with a 'print ready' layout a few minutes later... all for a low priced monthly subscription fee.
I can see AI being used in any sort of platform that requires automation..... logistics is an easy area to be adapted to with AI, office work where you're dealing with standardised issues is pretty easy too...we've already got AI being integrated into vocal model so they can speak back to us without us knowing.
The problem is that, long term, this will force a lot of people out of work with nothing else for them to do as a replacement job. We're not at the 'star trek utopia' stage of humanity where money doesn't make the world go round so the issue will then become a case of where do you get the money to support the 'lower classes'.... businesses won't be happy paying for staff they don't have etc. Hell we don't even have rules in place to manage AI development or it's intrusion into 'personal information' that shouldn't be being shared with it but it's using anyway.
It's a bit like how shopping in towns has been decimated by 'cheaper' online options (to be fair some of my local stores tell me to go online because they don't sell the 'tall' versions in our store....) which in turn means less local jobs for people and as a result areas can end up being economically deprived because there is no work for people to get money from... no money being paid so no money back into economy etc.
I've often said that being a designer isn't just about being creative, it's about being able to put down another persons idea onto paper/screen etc.... take away that role and you then have to have specific niche's to fill.
This is partly why I've been saying that I wouldn't advise anyone to go into design with a long term expectation and they'd likely be better off looking at a job that requires 'manual input' like plumbing etc.
Designers will adapt to being more hands on/crafty imo but even then it will require a lot less designers (to be fair too many think they are when they're not).
