Podcast Summary: Design Better – The Brief: How Our Recent Past Should Prepare Us for the Age of AI

Date: October 20, 2025
Hosts: Eli Woolery, Aarron Walter (The Curiosity Department)
Sponsored by: Wix Studio

Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter reflect on three decades of design evolution, drawing key lessons from the past to inform how we approach the impending age of AI. Drawing insights from conversations with leading creative thinkers—Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art), Mark Wilson (Past Company), Kate Aronowitz (Google Ventures), Mike Davidson (Microsoft), and Megan Choi (Anthropic)—they interrogate how design's democratization, moral ambiguity, specialization, and the rise of the algorithm have shaped our world. Ultimately, the discussion is a call for thoughtful, responsible, and patient design as we hurtle forward into new technological frontiers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reflections on 30 Years of Design Evolution

• The Shift to Digital:
  Eli recalls the dawn of the internet and the transformation from tangible to digital product design ([00:01]).
  • The first experience with Netscape Navigator was described as “blowing [him] away” due to its sense of global connectivity and instantaneous access.
  • Digital product design as a discipline didn’t even exist when Eli was in college; the emergence of user experience roles reshaped the field.

2. The Democratization Paradox

• Tools vs. Platforms:
  • Mark Wilson: “We democratized all the tools and we democratized none of the platforms. And that gap…is just in a nutshell, kind of what’s broken about the individual’s ability to communicate.” ([02:01])
  • While design tools are now widely accessible, the platforms controlling dissemination remain centralized with a handful of tech giants (Meta, Google, TikTok).
  • Creativity vs. Conformity:
    • The internet’s early chaos (GeoCities, MySpace) fostered creativity but at the cost of usability. Now, homogenization and algorithmic rules narrow creative possibilities.

3. Design’s Loss of Innocence

• Moral Duality of Design:
  • Paola Antonelli: “I remember that my jaw dropped not at the 3D printed gun, but at my stupidity and naivety and having thought that design was such a positive force…It can be good. It can be bad.” ([03:15])
  • Ethical dilemmas cited:
    • Behavioral design leading to addiction (Instagram, TikTok)
    • Dark patterns manipulating users
    • The Juul example: Good intentions (harm reduction) leading to unintended harm (teen addiction)
    • Weaponization of “delightful” design for exploitation (infinite scroll, notifications)

4. Fragmentation of the Design Profession

• Specialization and Disconnection:
  • Paola Antonelli: “So many of the designers that are here might not know of designers that instead you and I often publish or collect because there's been a disaggregation of the profession.” ([04:21])
  • Design has splintered into deep specialties, eroding the foundation of shared language and history across disciplines.
  • Result: Designers may lack awareness of each other’s work or shared principles (e.g., Bauhaus, color theory), leading to both depth and disconnect.

5. From Objects to Algorithms—Intangible Design

• Invisible Impact:
  • Mark Wilson: “The most impactful thesis design of this time is the most invisible one, which is the algorithm.” ([05:00])
  • Algorithms profoundly shape daily life—more than most physical products—but remain opaque and inaccessible to scrutiny.
  • Culture is now curated by engagement-optimizing systems instead of people, with the design process and values behind these algorithms rarely questioned.

6. Wisdom Scales Slower Than Code

• Generational Reflection & Speed of Change:
  • Aarron Walter: “With age comes caution…crystallized intelligence. When we’re moving fast and breaking things, speed, resilience and risk tolerance are desirable qualities. Idealism underlies it all and drives progress…” ([06:04])
  • Tech has favored youth and speed (“move fast and break things”), but the current shift to AI may demand the slow wisdom of experience.

7. Social Media’s Legacy as a Cautionary Tale for AI

• Platforms once promised empowerment (Twitter, Arab Spring) but enabled trolls, polarization, and mental health crises.
  • Mark Wilson: The democratization of tools without platforms led to concentrated, opaque, and dangerous power structures.
  • The same risks are emerging with AI, as barriers to creation fall but control remains centralized.

8. AI’s Unique Intimacy and Trust Challenges

• Mike Davidson: “Technology has never asked to be this close to you before, and it’s asking now. And as a user, you should think very, very long and hard about who you trust…” ([07:42])
  • AI now mediates deeply personal domains: therapy, medicine, finance, even relationships—requiring immense trust and posing commensurate risks.
  • Megan Choi: “People have adopted this technology shockingly fast when we know so little about it. Never before have we created a technology that we cannot understand.” ([08:32])
  • The black box nature of AI makes tracing harmful outcomes (misguided advice, extreme consequences) impossible.

9. Call for Proactive Guardrails & Slow Design

• Megan Choi:
  • “The disciplines we need most now aren’t new tools, but new lenses…as we’re quickly releasing this technology, I think we have a huge responsibility to try and put in the right guardrails. Of course we’re probably not going to get it right, but it’s still worth it.” ([09:44])
  • Argues for deliberate, patient design—“slow design”—with moral foresight rather than post-hoc regret.
  • The most vital skill for the future: “To be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” ([11:27])

10. The Role of Experience and the Need for Reflection

• Aarron Walter:
  • “That’s why tech can no longer be only a young person’s game. We need some gray haired thinkers in the creative process to act as our memory and foster debate. Where youth chases possibility and age asks why.” ([12:40])
  • Proposes a future where progress is anchored by those who value wisdom, pattern recognition, and reflection over disruption and speed alone.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We democratized all the tools and we democratized none of the platforms.”
  – Mark Wilson ([02:01])
• “Design, just like any other human activity, can go either way. It can be good. It could be bad.”
  – Paola Antonelli ([03:15])
• “The most impactful thesis design of this time is the most invisible one, which is the algorithm.”
  – Mark Wilson ([05:00])
• “Technology has never asked to be this close to you before, and it’s asking now… and as a user, you should think very, very long and hard about who you trust.”
  – Mike Davidson ([07:42])
• “People have adopted this technology shockingly fast when we know so little about it. Never before have we created a technology that we cannot understand.”
  – Megan Choi ([08:32])
• “The most important skill set we can all have is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
  – Megan Choi ([11:27])
• “That’s what this moment demands. We don’t need faster innovators. We need slower thinkers.”
  – Aarron Walter ([13:17])

Important Timestamps

• [00:01] – Eli sets the stage with a personal anecdote from the dawn of the World Wide Web
• [02:01] – Mark Wilson on the democratization paradox
• [03:15] – Paola Antonelli on the moral ambiguity of design
• [04:21] – Fragmentation of the design profession
• [05:00] – Mark Wilson on the invisible power of algorithms
• [06:04] – Aarron Walter on wisdom and age in tech
• [07:42] – Mike Davidson on AI’s unprecedented intimacy
• [08:32] – Megan Choi on AI’s black box challenge
• [09:44] – Megan Choi on AI safety and policy
• [11:27] – Megan Choi on the value of discomfort
• [12:40] – Aarron Walter on the necessity of reflection and intergenerational collaboration
• [13:17] – The call for slower, wiser innovation

Tone & Language

The hosts strike a balance between nostalgic reflection and urgent, forward-looking critique, speaking in accessible terms but never shying from honesty about what’s at stake. Their language is warm, intellectual, and inclusive—making complex design and technology themes approachable for a wide audience (“We’re all in this together,” “We are on Team human”).

Conclusion

This episode is a thoughtful meditation on how the design community’s recent history—from the optimism of the early web, through the cynicism of social media, to the wild frontier of AI—should inform our next steps. It challenges listeners to resist speed, embrace complexity, and build with caution and care. The message is clear: to design a better world with AI, we must draw wisdom from our own past and welcome diverse voices, especially those who remember all that has come before.