We're in the duct-tape era of AI.

I recently saw TJ Pitre demonstrate how Claude can generate a design system foundation in Figma from a single prompt. I couldn't resist figuring out how to replicate it, and I made a video walking through the setup. It's convoluted (multiple tools and intricate configurations) but it works. And you can feel where this is heading.

This moment reminds me of 2002 when I upgraded my cell phone to a Sony Ericsson T68i. It had extremely limited WAP browsing, but I figured out how to get emails and calendar events pushed to it. Suddenly I had a pseudo-smartphone cobbled together from workarounds. Of course, this was all a prelude to the iPhone and App Store where combining tools and hacks was no longer necessary to achieve basic functionality.

We're following a similar trajectory with AI. Right now we're deep in the "How do I connect this piece to that piece?" phase. The interesting question is what comes next.

https://youtu.be/VB5pKIbO5g0?si=R515eis5MlkLux8J