There was a palpable sense of excitement inside Microsoft UX Day 2026. Conversations around AI, prompts, and automation filled every corner of the room. But, guess what? The most powerful discussions were centered around something far more human: emotion, judgment, and craft.
Our team at Onething recently attended Microsoft UX Day 2026 in Noida. And we were privileged to have our Co-founder and Director of Design, Manik Arora, as a keynote speaker. While going in expecting conversations dominated by AI disruption, we walked out reflecting much deeper on what makes design meaningful in the first place.
The common theme across the sessions was the speed of change that AI is bringing to execution. Design, however, has never been just execution. That idea came through clearly in Diego Baca’s session on building his own LEGO-based device using AI, which reinforced the broader discussion around AI as a creative collaborator shaped through experimentation and iteration. Alongside Ankur Sardana’s take on storytelling and emotional connection, the sessions felt less like a showcase of tools and more like an honest conversation about adaptation and continuous learning.
Manik’s session struck a chord with a lot of people in the room because it moved the conversation away from AI hype and brought it back to something more real. And that is, perspective. He spoke about how the industry is currently living through the kind of shift that only happens once in a generation… the kind that reshapes how entire industries work. Like when machines transformed manufacturing, when the internet changed business forever, or when smartphones forced the digital world to completely reinvent itself for a five-inch screen. AI, he explained, feels very much like one of those moments.
Perhaps that was what made the session feel so honest. There was no exaggerated optimism. No fear-mongering either. Just an acknowledgement that most designers are overwhelmed because the process that many of us built our careers around is rapidly changing. But history has shown us that the people who ultimately lead these shifts are rarely outsiders. They are usually the people already deep inside the craft – the ones who understand the fundamentals and are willing to adapt their process.
One insight that particularly stayed with us was Manik’s analogy of AI as “a new intern with access to the world’s best experts” – incredibly capable, but only when guided with context, direction, and human judgment. He also spoke candidly about how many teams approached AI the wrong way in the beginning. Real value, he explained, comes from iteration, refining prompts, tweaking systems, and actively collaborating with the technology instead of expecting magic instantly.
Making screens is only a small part of design. Strategy, systems thinking, storytelling, context, and judgment still remain deeply human responsibilities. At the same time, the deliverables themselves are changing rapidly. Designers are moving closer to functional prototypes, execution-ready outputs, and front-end logic. This makes technical understanding increasingly important for modern design teams.
Another thought-provoking point that stayed with us was how user behaviour itself is changing. People do not really “browse” products anymore. Now they arrive with intent. That shift changes everything about how digital experiences are designed, discovered, and interacted with.
Somewhere through all these conversations, our perspective on how the industry is approaching AI also became clearer. Across sessions and discussions, it was evident that many designers are still navigating uncertainty around how AI will shape the future of design.
At Onething Design, however, we have been leaning into experimentation. Over the last few months, our co-founders, Manik and Divanshu, have been actively exploring diverse AI tools alongside our teams – testing tools, breaking workflows, rebuilding processes, and figuring out what genuinely creates value instead of simply chasing trends. Every Saturday at our Gurgaon studio, they began running AI Labs with team leads across functions. What followed genuinely changed the way many of us think about work.
In hiring, we trained Claude on past shortlisted profiles, portfolios, and evaluation patterns. Today, every application that lands on our website flows through an automated n8n workflow where candidates are screened, scored, and organized into clean first-level shortlists for our HR team.
Across design and creative teams, we began building workflows that generate moodboards and exploratory concepts directly into Figma for faster client visualization and pitching.
Interestingly, the impact extended into strategy, business development, and content as well. Research that once took days could now be synthesized in minutes through AI-assisted workflows. Proposal turnaround times reduced drastically. AI avatars, synthetic voice systems, and experimental content pipelines quietly started becoming part of our social and storytelling ecosystem too.
Perhaps that is why many of the conversations at Microsoft UX Day 2026 felt less about replacement and more about collaboration. That is, not using AI as a substitute for thinking, but as a powerful tool that becomes far more valuable when guided by strong design judgment, context, and intent.
Amidst all the conversations around AI and the future of design, Microsoft UX Day 2026 left us with one thought that felt incredibly clear:
The future may become increasingly AI-powered.
But meaningful experiences will always remain deeply human.