AI + a16z Ryo Lu (Cursor): AI Turns Designers to Developers
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Nov 21, 2025 
Ryo Lu, Head of Design at Cursor and ex-designer at Notion and Asana, dives into the transformative role of AI in design and engineering. He discusses Cursor's innovative tools that let designers quickly prototype code. Ryo challenges traditional notions of 'taste' in design and advocates for a unified approach that breaks down silos between teams. He also shares insights on making coding accessible for non-engineers and reimagining design as a conceptual architecture, drawing inspiration from classic interfaces and nature.
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Designers Can Ship Code Directly
- AI lets designers ship functional products directly, collapsing long handoffs and meetings.
- Ryo Lu says agents can produce 60–70% of an implementation and speed iteration dramatically.
Agents Unify Siloed Workflows
- Making software fragmented into siloed roles created slow handoffs and process overhead.
- Ryo Lu argues the shared truth is code and agents can synthesize artifacts across tools to unify work.
Provide Clear Boundaries To AI
- Specify your opinion and boundaries when using AI to avoid generic outputs.
- Provide human taste or guardrails because otherwise "it will just produce AI slop."
