By: Molly Berger

Award-winning designer Ziwei Song explores how creativity evolves—not disappears—when technology transforms the craft.

Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of every creative profession—from design and film to music and writing. While its potential is thrilling, its pace also fuels an undercurrent of anxiety. “Will AI replace my job within a few years?” “What happens to designers, writers, and artists in an automated world?”

Few people understand this tension better than Ziwei Song, an internationally acclaimed designer whose work bridges technology, empathy, and human experience. Currently working in the tech industry, Song previously served at a global consulting firm, where she collaborated with Fortune 500 clients, including Hilton, The North Face, and Porsche. Over her career, she has led teams to win more than 20 international design awards, including multiple Red Dot Design Awards, A’ Design Awards, and MUSE Design Awards, competing against global leaders like Google, Samsung, Apple, and Dyson.

Drawing from years of experience across both corporate innovation and user experience design, Song believes that artificial intelligence is not the end of creativity—but the next evolution of it.

The Myth of Replacement

Song often hears the same fear from colleagues and young designers alike: “Will AI make us obsolete?” Her answer is firm. “We’ve been here before,” she says.

About a decade ago, when she began her career, design was still deeply tactile. “We hand-drew posters, traced typography, and manually transferred them into digital layouts,” she recalls. “Computers couldn’t yet express the natural, imperfect warmth that made our designs human.”

A few years later, as design tools and media evolved, that process shifted. “Once, we spent hours sketching and scanning,” she says. “Now we can visualize ideas instantly. Every new technology eliminates certain tasks—but it doesn’t erase the designer’s purpose. It reshapes it.”

The First Shifts: From Print to Pixels

The turning point came when the world moved from print to digital screens. “The rise of smartphones and touch interfaces changed everything,” Song explains. “Suddenly, we weren’t designing static posters—we were designing dynamic interactions.”

This shift compelled many graphic designers to acquire a new skill set: UI (User Interface) design. “You had to think about how things move, how they respond, how they feel,” she says. “It wasn’t just about visual balance anymore—it was about emotional logic.”

But with every major transition came uncertainty. “Each generation of designers asks the same question,” Song says. “‘Can I adapt to this?’ And the answer is always yes—for those willing to keep learning.”

From Skill to Strategy

Song’s own evolution from graphic designer to product and UX designer mirrors that of the industry as a whole. “I realized my job wasn’t only about crafting visuals—it was about solving human problems,” she says.

Her focus shifted from skill to strategy. “Design used to be about precision and craft,” she explains. “Now it’s about context—understanding users, their emotions, and the systems they navigate.”

This mindset, she believes, is the foundation of how designers should approach AI today. “Our task is not to fear automation, but to direct it. We don’t lose relevance when tools advance—we gain influence when we guide them.”

AI Is Not the Next Tool—It’s the Next Accelerator

AI’s rise has reignited creative anxiety, but Song sees it as evolution, not extinction. “AI isn’t just a new tool like Photoshop—it’s a new accelerator,” she says.

In her view, AI plays three influential roles:

• An Engine: speeding up the creative process and allowing unprecedented iteration.
• A Solution: enabling us to tackle complex, data-driven design challenges that were once impossible.
• A Democratizer: lowering the barrier to creation and giving more people the ability to bring ideas to life.

“AI can automate execution,” Song notes, “but it can’t replace judgment, empathy, or taste. Those are human.”

The AI–Strategy Gap: Where Designers Are Needed Most

Song’s work across consulting and enterprise innovation has revealed what she calls the “AI–strategy gap.” “Many companies tell me, ‘We want to use AI, but we don’t know how,’” she says. “They have technology but no roadmap—an engine without a driver.”

That’s where designers step in. “Our job is to bridge the gap between AI’s potential and real human needs,” she explains.

A recent internal challenge at Verizon, where Song currently contributes to large-scale product ecosystems, made this vividly clear. “We were given five hours to create an AI-driven project from scratch,” she recalls. “Teams were mixed at random and told to use only AI tools.”

Her team approached the task like a classic design-thinking exercise—defining the problem, crafting personas, mapping user journeys, and then using AI for rapid ideation and visual generation.

“The results were fascinating,” Song says. “AI was swift, but its outputs were generic. It couldn’t grasp context or emotion. And the more we asked it to revise, the more bugs appeared. Ironically, human iteration was faster.”

Still, her team won the challenge—not because they mastered the AI interface, but because they guided it. “We didn’t let AI lead the process,” she emphasizes. “We led the strategy, and that made all the difference.”

Photo Courtesy: Google Gemini AI

The Designer’s Evolving Identity

That experience reaffirmed a core belief for Song: the future of design isn’t about who uses AI best—it’s about who thinks best.

“The designer’s job now is to define purpose,” she says. “We’re not just crafting pixels—we’re orchestrating strategy, empathy, and ethics.”

She envisions the designer of the future as a conductor, ethicist, and strategist. “AI is a powerful instrument,” she says, “but it still needs a human to compose the symphony.”

The Future: Judgment, Ethics, and Human Insight

Song is clear-eyed about what’s ahead. “AI’s evolution is unstoppable,” she says. “But instead of competing with it, we should be guiding it.”

That guidance, she believes, begins with ethics and empathy. “As AI systems shape more of our daily experiences, designers must ask the hard questions: Is this inclusive? Is this fair? Does this serve people well?”

In her eyes, this responsibility defines the next generation of creative leadership. “AI is brilliant at generating answers,” Song concludes. “But our value lies in asking the right questions. We’re not being replaced—we’re being elevated. The future of design isn’t about craft; it’s about judgment.”