Stop asking “Will I Be Replaced?
AI can draw it — but it can’t see it.
Dear Nuno, 16 years ago,
Today I got the same question twice.
The first person was a designer.
“I’m worried about the age of AI.”
The second was a pattern maker.
“How should I deal with AI?”
Same subject. Different question.
One spoke of fear.
The other asked for a method.
You’ll be standing here soon, too. And the question you choose to ask in that moment will decide the next ten years of your life.
You’ll probably ask it like this:
“If AI draws all the patterns, doesn’t my job just disappear?”
But that’s the wrong question.
The real question is this:
“What is it that AI cannot do?”
AI just draws patterns. It can give you a rough reference pattern to start from.
But even then, make AI generate ten and six of them just get thrown away. (More on that next time.) As a starting point, sure, it can be useful.
But you’re not someone who just draws patterns, are you? You’re someone who builds them structurally and dials in the fit.
Drawing a pattern and building a structure are two completely different things.
A pattern that truly fits never comes out on the first try. You have to make it at least twice.
“The front is gaping.”
“There are drag lines under the seat.”
“Wrinkles are forming below the armhole.”
You take a single line like that, and you decide where, how many millimeters, and in which direction to correct it.
You fit, you look, you correct, you fit again. That repetition is the work you do every day.
And AI can’t step inside that loop. It can draw, but it can’t see the fit.
So today, do just one thing. Pull out a sheet of paper and write down:
“The work AI can never do. That’s mine.”
Three lines will come easily.
The fourth line and beyond is where your real work begins. The work no one can replace.
Don’t ask “Will I be replaced?”
Ask “What is it that only I have?”
Fear makes you stop asking questions.
Method makes you change the question.
Coming next time
In the next issue, I’ll bring in a piece of graduate research. They fed the AI more pattern data, more and more varied. Think about what you imagine happened.
Then I’ll tell you why it happened, and what it means for you.
