DESIGNING FOR AN AI FUTURE: AVOIDING THE DYSTOPIA II

What Can Designers Learn from Medicine?

by Rachel Magaji

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We may already be slipping into the future our grandparents dreaded.

I have an obsession with medical TV shows. After going through a life-changing experience recently, one of the things that brought me comfort was binge-watching a lot of them. I’ve noticed that, even though they often get the details of CPR wrong, they always take medical mistakes seriously. 

I learned that medical malpractice happens when a doctor or healthcare worker gives care that isn’t up to the right standard, and it ends up hurting someone. It’s a kind of professional mistake, but one that’s specific to medicine. I also found out about something called the Hippocratic Oath. It’s a tradition where new doctors make a promise to follow certain values and do what’s right for their patients.

What really stood out to me is how deeply life is valued in medicine. There’s a strong sense of duty to protect it. Most people naturally want to choose life, or do good, unless something completely out of their control happens. And in many cultures and belief systems, there are values that remind us to keep choosing life, even when things get hard. 

What if designers had their own version of the Hippocratic oath?

The AI Crisis of Confidence

The buzz around AI has left many designers feeling lost. New tools keep popping up, and it feels like you have to learn them all right away. You keep hearing, “AI won’t take your job. A designer using AI will,” so you push yourself to keep up. But even with all the effort, tech layoffs continue, and getting hired isn’t getting easier. 

At the same time, there’s a big issue no one wants to talk about. Are we slowly slipping into a future beyond our control? It’s like the story of the frog in slowly boiling water. The water gets hotter bit by bit, and the frog doesn’t notice until it’s too late. That’s what it feels like in design today. Bit by bit, harmful choices have become normal. Features that used to feel invasive, manipulative, or unnecessary now seem like just another part of our tools and platforms.

Designers Shape the Future

We picture futurists like Doctor Strange, looking through endless timelines, weighing the risks before making a decision. But that’s exactly what designers do. We imagine possible futures, think through the consequences, and decide what to create. Good designers use research, empathy, data, and systems thinking to guide their choices. These aren’t just skills, they are ways of making better decisions.

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Too often, we miss the big picture. We don't see how deeply our products affect people’s lives. You don't need to wear a white coat to be involved in matters of life and death. Designers shape the environments people move through every day. For instance, a recent study by News Medical, shows that social media worsens anxiety and depression in teens, especially among those already struggling with their mental health. This proves that design choices like notifications, infinite scroll, or algorithmic feeds are not just UX patterns. They can be stressors or lifelines. Our work can either help or harm people.

In Ruined by Design, Mike Monteiro explains how designers today get rewarded for getting more clicks, more users, or more money — even when it causes harm. We’ve created apps that make money by making people angry, getting them addicted, and collecting their personal data. And we’ve come to see this as normal.  These changes didn’t happen overnight. One small compromise led to another. What might have shocked people 30 years ago now feels like just another feature. Harmful design didn’t arrive loudly, it snuck in under the names of growth, speed, and innovation.

So we have to ask: What are we building? Why are we building it? And are we doing the right thing?

Choosing the Better Path to Ethical Design

So what does it mean to design for an AI future, and how can we avoid creating something that ends up doing more harm than good? Right now, many AI tools are being made just because they can be, not because they are needed. We are starting to see products that do not solve real problems. Some even create new problems that never existed before. It feels like designers are building things just to build them, and the results are starting to look more like Frankenstein’s monster — something that no one can fully control. At the same time, many AI startups are already shutting down. A small change or update from a bigger company can make their whole business obsolete. That is not healthy, and it is not a sign of smart design.

We need to start being more thoughtful about what we design. One way to do this is by using ideas like speculative design. In this article from AIxDESIGN, they talk about how speculative design helps us imagine different kinds of futures. Not just the most profitable one, but also futures that are fair, safe, and good for people. It helps us ask better questions about what we are building and why.

I don’t think we’re fully in a dystopian future yet, but we’re close. A lot of worrying things are happening faster than ever. Still, I believe we have a chance to fix things. The next 10 or 20 years might be our last big opportunity to choose a better path. We might not have the Hippocratic oath or be punished for dark UX patterns but as designers, we need to ask better questions: not just “Can we build this?” but “Should we?” 

If life is sacred in medicine, it should be treated with the same care in design. The future is still being shaped, and it’s in our hands.

© Rachel Magaji, 2025

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Driven by a passion for design and innovation, Rachel Magaji is dedicated to helping businesses succeed through sustainable and user-centric solutions. With over four years of experience in the startup ecosystem, Rachel brings a unique blend of skills in empathy-driven design, human-computer interaction, and behavioural psychology. Currently, she is enhancing her expertise in business strategy and entrepreneurship through an MBA program at Quantic School of Business and Technology, to become a leader in the intersection of technology, foresight, and sustainability.