Concept to code: Transforming ideas into functional products with Kiro
This video is featured in the AI Conference playlist.
Summary
AI-assisted development is rewriting the contract. Kiro, an agentic IDE built around specification, puts the power to build in the hands of the person who already holds the intent. The design.md spec becomes the design output. Static mocks become shippable code. No relay, no translation, no slow erosion of meaning between rooms.
In this session, Rikki Teeters takes an idea from spec to functioning product live on stage. You will watch the spec take shape, see Kiro build against it, and feel the moment a concept becomes code in real time. Expect a working grasp of Kiro, a new frame for the spec as the most consequential artifact a designer makes, and one question worth carrying home. When execution is no longer someone else’s job, what will you build first?
Key Insights
-
•
Traditional design-to-engineering handoffs are effectively dead due to AI-driven direct code generation.
-
•
AI enables designers to ship functional products themselves, removing the need for separate coding phases.
-
•
The new builder team model blurs roles between design, engineering, and product management, with AI as a core team member.
-
•
Design.md is a new kind of design spec written to guide AI in building products, replacing fragmented mockups and annotations.
-
•
Spec-driven AI development leads to higher quality and fewer errors compared to vague prompt-based coding, reducing 'AI slop'.
-
•
About 80% of code merged to production at Anthropic is now written by AI (Claude), showing AI's growing role in development.
-
•
AI coding parity with humans was reached recently, and AI is expected to outperform humans in coding within a year.
-
•
UX professionals can act as directors of AI development, controlling product vision from design through to launch.
-
•
Tools like Kiro facilitate both vibe coding (conversational iterative prompts) and spec-driven coding for designers.
-
•
Including personas, user flows, and edge cases in the design.md spec helps AI build more human-centered and accessible products.
Notable Quotes
"More times than not, the product looks quite different than the vision we designed by the time it ships."
"The traditional handoff between design and engineering is officially dead."
"We’re able to use AI to create the vision and develop that vision into real working code and ship it ourselves."
"When anyone can make anything very fast and cheap, the role of UX is evolving."
"At Anthropic, 80% of the code merged to production is now written by Claude."
"AI writing code at parity with humans is a huge achievement, and it’s expected to surpass humans within a year."
"Design.md is not technical specs but a document that you can give to AI to instruct what it actually builds."
"AI slop means a lot of low quality AI-generated content with little human thinking and decision-making involved."
"If you can describe your idea clearly enough that someone else could build it, you can have AI build it for you."
"Stop handing off your vision and start shipping it yourself."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Design is enabling, enabling function and therefore it was invested in as IP and USP, but now it is seen more as a resource and expense that is questioned."
Silke Bochat5 Antifragile Strategies for a DesignOps 2.0
September 23, 2024
"Find the people with whom you can lock eyes—those are your tribe, your support system."
Indra KlavinsA Design Ops Girl in a Dev Ops World
October 23, 2019
"Direct action rarely gets what we want in complex systems; instead, we must know what we can actually manage."
Dave HoraResearch in the Face of Complexity: New Sensibility for New Situations
August 27, 2025
"Organizational cracks and rickety bridges between teams are signals that design ops is needed here."
John CalhounHave we Reached Our Peak? Spotting the Next Mountain For DesignOps to Climb
October 1, 2021
"There’s a perception that generative AI is gonna change everything, but I think it’s gonna transform, not totally overhaul mine."
Clara Kliman-SilverUX Futures: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Design
June 7, 2023
"Ethics are the discipline of dealing with what is good or bad with moral duty and obligation."
Mariah HayEthics in Tech Education: Designing to Provide Opportunity for All
June 14, 2018
"Make an uncredible experience credible. That was the directive from organizational resistance to UX."
Dan WillisEnterprise Storytelling Sessions
June 3, 2019
"I see this opportunity to imbue these rigid, bureaucratic corporate contexts with humanism to put people at the center of the work."
Lori Muszynski Peter MerholzKeeping Design Weird
October 2, 2023
"Knowledge just isn’t created in isolation anymore."
Megan BlockerTheme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What factors lead experienced UX leaders like Sarah B. Nelson to leave corporate design roles for artistic paths?
What practical steps can UX researchers take to demonstrate measurable business impact with AI?
What practical steps can researchers take to reframe their contributions and build allies?