Dylan Field argues that AI will make great design more valuable, not less, as the debate over whether generative AI will replace designers gathers pace.
- As Anthropic, Google and OpenAI roll out increasingly capable AI tools, shares of Figma and Adobe have come under pressure over the past six months.
- Both companies are rapidly expanding AI capabilities across their product suites to stay ahead of the shift.
- Stocktwits sentiment stood at ‘neutral’ for FIG and ‘bearish’ for ADBE on Friday.
Figma, Inc. CEO Dylan Field has pushed back on growing fears that AI tools such as Anthropic’s Claude Design will make design software obsolete, arguing instead that design is becoming increasingly important as AI-generated content proliferates.
Field was responding to a Tel Aviv-based designer on X who said he had quit his design job after Anthropic’s Fable 5 generated a pixel-perfect logo that captured all of the context he had provided. “AI beat me at design,” the user wrote.
Concerns about AI disrupting the design industry are not new. As Anthropic, Google and OpenAI have rolled out increasingly capable AI models, shares of companies such as Figma and Adobe have come under pressure over the past six months.
Many investors believe free AI tools can already handle a growing share of routine design work and that, as the technology improves, fewer users will need premium subscription-based design software.
Figma CEO Says Design Is More Crucial In AI Era
Field argued that an explosion of AI-generated content will make human creativity even more valuable. “More design is entering the world, the attention economy is real and therefore creativity/design/point of view is how you will stand out,” he wrote.
“Your brand, marketing, product design, moments of delight and overall customer journey must be excellent. Some companies already get this and are fighting wild battles over design talent. Other companies are still figuring it out. Everyone will get there and it will be obvious in retrospect.
Secondly, the design language of products is now valued more than it was a decade ago. “Designers used to complain about not having a seat at the table. Now designers have a seat at the table. And many of the businesses I speak with are pulling from their design bench when looking for new leaders for their business… they know that design thinking and the design process is what they need to adopt everywhere to win.”
Field also slammed angel investor and podcaster Jason Calacanis, who compared today’s AI disruption to the introduction of desktop publishing software. “I heard the same thing from magazine designers when PageMaker came out,” Calacanis wrote. “Not sure if this time is different.”
Field fired back: “Never been more bullish on design and Figma than seeing Jason be negative. Looking forward to proving you wrong. Again,” Field wrote.
FIG, ADBE AI Design Capabilities
To be sure, design firms are rapidly expanding AI capabilities in their products. Adobe has embedded its Firefly generative AI models across Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Express.
At its latest Config conference, Figma unveiled AI features including Code Layers, prompt-based animation with Figma Motion, generative plugins, and a more capable Figma Agent that can create designs, search files, and automate repetitive tasks.
“After attending Config ’26, the firm’s confidence has increased in Figma’s intelligent canvas and design platform strategy and its ability to capture additional spending,” Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin said in a recent investor note.
Figma’s first-quarter revenue grew 46% to $333.4 million on adjusted net income of $0.10 per share, beating expectations on both counts – and the company raised its full-year revenue target.
FIG, ADBE Retail View, Stock Move
Still, FIG and ADBE stocks remain down 40.4% and 36.4%, respectively, year to date.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for FIG has improved over the past month and was ‘neutral’ on Friday, while sentiment for ADBE moved in the opposite direction, to ‘bearish.’ Adobe’s watcher count has risen more than 3% over the past month, compared with a 2% increase for FIG. On valuation, FIG trades at 81.8 times 12-month forward earnings, well above Adobe’s 8.6 times.
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