We're about to enter an era where our ability to help people is limited only by our empathy and imagination.
I’m writing another book, but this time, I’m posting it chapter at a time here on my website, BradThomas.io for paid subscribers. I decided to do this a little differently this time, because I think this topic is much larger than just a book. Questions need to be raised. Discussions need to happen. People need to get ready for what is coming, because it will be life-altering.
About a year ago, I had a conversation with my friend Mike, who is a designer like myself. Mike was showing me some of the wild things that he could do with some of the AI tools within the new version of Photoshop. The conversation he and I had was a mixture of fascination and terror. Mike had just accomplished something that should have been impossible using traditional methods.
“I don’t know if I should be excited or update my resume,” Mike said.
Mike’s reaction is exactly why I spent the last several months researching methods and workflows that will allow designers to weather the storm of the AI transformation and come out on top by using it to achieve things that seemed like science fiction just two years ago.
What I found completely changed how I think about the future of creative work.
The Story No One’s Telling
While everyone debates whether AI will replace designers, something remarkable is happening behind the scenes at forward-thinking companies around the world. It’s probably not what you’d expect.
I’ve watched design teams reduce their design-to-production time from months to weeks while dramatically improving quality. I’ve seen small startups compete directly with tech giants by leveraging approaches that most people don’t even know exist yet, and observed creative professionals who were initially terrified of AI become so effective that they’d never go back to working the old way.
But here’s the twist that surprised me most: none of these success stories were about replacing humans with machines.
They were about something entirely different and far more interesting.
The Companies That Are Already Living in 2030
During my research, I learned about organizations that are quietly revolutionizing how creative work gets done. A healthcare company that’s delivering better user experiences in a fraction of the time. A retail startup that’s out-innovating Amazon using methods their competitors don’t understand. A financial services firm that solved problems they’d been struggling with for years that solved them in a matter of days.
There’s a clear pattern emerging, and it’s bigger than using new tools or learning new software.
These companies have discovered something that changes everything about creative work, and they’re not talking about it publicly because it’s giving them an unfair advantage.
The Roles That Don’t Exist Yet (But Soon Will Be Essential)
In my research, I identified five completely new types of creative professionals emerging in these leading organizations. Entirely new roles that didn’t exist three years ago.
The people filling these roles are achieving results that traditional teams can’t match. They’re working faster, creating better outcomes, and — surprisingly — reporting higher job satisfaction than their traditionally-working counterparts.
But here’s what’s really interesting: the most successful people in these new roles aren’t necessarily the ones with the strongest technical backgrounds. They’re the ones who’ve developed specific human capabilities that become exponentially more valuable when combined with AI.
The question is: which capabilities, and how do you develop them?
The Timeline Everyone’s Getting Wrong
Most people think this transformation will either happen overnight (the panic response) or take decades (the denial response). Both are wrong.
I’ve mapped out exactly how this change is unfolding, and it’s following a predictable three-phase pattern. We’re currently in phase one, but the transition to phase two is happening faster than anyone anticipated.
The companies that understand this timeline are making strategic moves now that will be impossible to replicate once phase two begins. The ones that don’t are setting themselves up to be permanently left behind.
Why This Should Matter to You (Even If You’ve Never Designed Anything)
Whether you’re a business leader, a creative professional, or someone who just uses apps and websites every day, this transformation affects you directly.
The entire landscape of digital experiences are being reimagined. The apps you use, the websites you visit, the digital services that frustrate or delight you are all about to get dramatically better because of how creative teams are evolving.
We’re talking about experiences that adapt to your specific needs, problems that get solved before you even know they exist, and innovation that happens at a pace that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.
The Question That Changes Everything
After months of research, I’m convinced that we’re living through the most significant transformation in creative work since the personal computer. The difference between success and struggling comes down to one crucial question: Will you be among the people who learn to harness this change, or will you be wondering how the world shifted so quickly while you weren’t paying attention?
The organizations and individuals who figure this out first will be defining what becomes possible for everyone else.
However there is an open window of opportunity presently that won’t stay open forever.
If you want to be ahead of this change instead of reacting to it, the time to understand what’s happening is now. I’m writing about all of this here and will be publishing the book once they’ve all been posted.
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