What it takes to be a UX Designer today: A conversation with David Grunewald, AI strategist

At our latest UX Beers session, David Grunewald, AI-strategist and founder of Pluginto.ai,  shared a perspective that instantly sparked debate: UX is entering a proactive era, powered by AI that predicts what users need before they act. After his talk, we sat down together to unpack the implications, not for “someday,” but for designers working today.

David, how would you define Proactive Experience?

“Proactive Experience represents the shift from UX that reacts after problems occur to UX that actually anticipatesthem.

Thanks to AI, we can now detect weak signals, understand that a friction point is about to appear before it even happens, and automatically trigger the right action.
The idea is no longer to wait for a journey to deteriorate before intervening, but rather making the experience predictive and contextual.”

What makes this approach possible today?

“Quite simply: AI can aggregate far more data than before. It analyzes hundreds of signals, like behaviour, navigation, context or history, and combines them with external data like weather or seasonality.

From there, the models identify what could happen:

• Drop in engagement,
• Risk of abandonment,
• Behavioural shifts.

AI becomes a kind of permanent sensor that observes and alerts. And the designer gains an analytical co‑pilot.”

Can you give some concrete examples of proactivity?

“In healthcare for example, AI will be able to detect weak signals in patient data, anticipate complications, and warn medical teams before issues escalate. Even the capsules we pick up at the pharmacy could eventually be personalized, ensuring each person receives exactly what their body needs.

But also in the Insurance or Finance sector, AI will be a powerful ally. Proactive Experience is also used to detect fraud. When atypical behaviour appears, AI can alert, block or escalate the case to a human.

In every situation, the cycle is the same: detect → predict → act.”

Does AI bring designers and developers closer together?

“Yes. With tools like Claude Code connected to Figma, you can express an intention (“put a primary button here”, “rebalance the grid”, “produce a cleaner design”) and instantly receive a visual proposal or sometimes even a code translation.

This has two direct effects. First, the designer immediately sees whether the idea is technically viable. Then, the developer receives prototypes that are far more realistic.

It narrows the gap between imagination and feasibility.”

You often describe the designer as orchestra conductor. What do you mean by that?

“Well, the designer doesn’t play every note anymore. They conduct the ensemble.

AI tools generate content, restructure an interface, analyze a session or produce a first version of a code. Designers now have to rethink their role and evaluate the tool’s proposal, adjust it if needed and ensure ethics or overall coherence are taken into account. It’s a posture that is both more strategic and more essential.”

Which skills should designers prioritize to remain relevant in the next five years?

“I would highlight four areas:

• Having critical thinking: knowing how to say “this proposal is coherent / not coherent.”
• Understanding AI agents: working with them as with a team.
• Having a strategic vision: understanding the business objective, and acting as an orchestra conductor, like I mentioned.”

To conclude, what do you think the future of the profession looks like?

“It’s hard to say, but over the past few weeks, there’s been a noticeable shift in how we approach AI in the workplace. 

We’re moving beyond simply developing AI assistants or agents that operate specific tools. The trend now is toward so-called AI Operating Systems. This means creating a structured AI environment that understands the work context, recognizes the skills required and can handle daily tasks intelligently.

Instead of manually setting up multiple agents and connecting them, these systems will allow us to express intentions. The AI Operating System then determines which tools and skills are needed to accomplish the task.

In short, I think the future of the profession will be about leading AI systems as collaborators, using them to amplify human judgment, rather than performing every task manually.”

In the end, AI may predict the journey, but it’s still up to designers to craft its meaning.