Two years since the launch of ChatGPT, it would be hard to find a design team that hasn't explored or exploited AI for creative tasks in ways that 10 years ago would seem unthinkable, but what many of us didn't envision was how quickly clients would adopt it too.

Gone are the days of traditional written briefs or mood boards. Instead, we're now seeing clients bringing AI-generated visuals to the table. From quick renders to full CAD models, almost overnight these tools have become a fundamental element of how clients communicate ideas and bring themselves into the design process.

I see two ways in which we can respond to this as designers. We can throw our toys out of the pram, frustrated at the idea that the client is now taking on the role of the designer and fear that the next step is us losing our jobs altogether. Or, we can embrace our clients' use of AI and focus on what really matters.

Clients - or those responsible for putting together design briefs - don't typically see the world as designers see it. They can't extrapolate a sketch into a real-world product and they don't have the skill set to translate their idea for a product into a sketch.

So, until recently, one of our roles as designers was to interpret the brief and go through the back-and-forth process of teasing out the client's vision. But now, armed with AI tools, clients are coming to us with rendered concepts rather than vague descriptions and ideas, shifting those initial conversations from 'No, that's not quite what I meant' to 'How can you help me evolve this concept?'

While this can be frustrating for designers, it's empowering for clients. For the first time, they can translate the ideas in their heads into something tangible, allowing them to participate in the creative process in ways that weren't possible before. Now that they hold a copy of the key to our kingdom, we have no choice but to let them in. But access alone doesn't equate to expertise.

AI can already handle some of the legwork in exploring and visualizing concepts at the early stage of the design process. Eventually it will also be capable of accurate 3D modeling and structural simulations down the line. So clearly the role of the designer is shifting. But strategy is one area where designers will continue to bring value.

Clients might arrive with AI renders, but they still need our strategic expertise to determine the reason for these products to exist and ensure market fit. This takes an understanding of the nuances of culture, society and human nature that AI can't understand. AI might answer the question 'What will a product look like?' but this gives us more capacity to focus on 'Why should this exist and how will it create value for business and the wider world?' In this sense, AI doesn't replace designers; it simply causes us to focus on where our expertise is most valuable.

Whether you choose to embrace or dismiss the potential for AI to streamline aspects of the design process and evolve the client-agency relationship, we must all hold on to what makes human-led design irreplaceable. Great design isn't just about function; it's about meaning. AI is never going to be able to elevate human experience beyond where we are today because it does not truly understand what it means to be human.

Designers craft narratives and experiences that AI alone can't replicate. This includes knowing the tactility of materials and interactions or why specific color combinations evoke emotions. And so much of this is tied to context. Without a sense of being and place, no large language model (LLM) can grasp the subtleties of interacting with tangible objects, in part because these nuances are not something we can explain with language and cannot teach. They are only something we can feel.

Finally, while client-generated AI concepts may look great on screen they're impossible to actually manufacture in real life in an efficient way within a realistic budget and timeframe.

This means designers are becoming educators, explaining material and manufacturing limitations and design principles. Time is now spent breaking down a client's concepts to the fundamentals of the brief before building it up as a carefully considered product. For many designers, this role is new and takes careful handling; otherwise, you end up with a client feeling their ideas are being rejected and a designer who feels that their skills and experience are being undermined.

But this could be a short-term problem. Whether we wish for it or not, AI models will soon have an improved understanding of efficient materials, manufacturing processes and assembly. There will likely be a time when AI platforms will take a prompt and turn it into production-ready CAD data. And it's plausible that this data could then be sent directly to a fully automated dark factory where CNC machines cut the steel to make the tools for injection molding machines and the parts are molded and assembled by robots.

But beyond simply how mediocre these products would be, supply chains are not that simple. Technical knowledge, supplier relationships, deep material understanding, and production experience cannot be automated. AI won't be able to negotiate on cost with factory owners or troubleshoot production complications. With multiple stakeholders involved, the thing that brings everyone together to craft truly beautiful and innovative products is the story. And crafting this story is the responsibility of the designer.

So, let's accept the impact AI tools will have on the client-agency dynamic as a positive evolution in how we create together. The studios that thrive won't be those fighting against this change but instead will be the ones embracing it as an opportunity to elevate their strategic value and abilities as storytellers. It's time we focused less on who visualized what and more on why we're creating in the first place.