Product Pals Live @SNN: Emma Carter on Leading Design in the AI Era

It’s one of the biggest questions product teams are asking right now.If anyone can generate prototypes, build interfaces, and ship ideas faster than ever… what happens to the role of design?In our latest Product Pals Live episode, recorded at Signal Not Noise 2026, we sat down with Emma Carter, Head of Design at MYOB and author of three books on design leadership.One idea from our conversation has really stayed with me:AI will make building easier. But it won’t replace the need to deeply understand people, ask better questions, or know whether we’re solving the right problem.That shift changes the conversation.Design is not just about creating screens. It’s about connecting customer needs, business goals, technology, and human judgement.In this episode we also explore: 🎨 Why design is much more than UI and aesthetics 🤝 How Product, Design, and Engineering can become better partners 🗣️ Why engineers should spend more time talking to customers ⚖️ When to move fast with AI—and when slowing down creates better outcomes 🔮 How AI may reshape the future of product teams and specialist rolesThis was one of our favourite conversations from Product Pals Live, and we hope it sparks as much discussion for you as it did for our live audience.🎧 The episode is out now! Search Product Pals on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform.💬 I’m curious what do you think?As AI becomes better at creating, do you think the roles of Product Manager, Designer, and Engineer will become more specialised… or begin to merge?