Patrick Morgan

I design software to automate work in cybersecurity, but I feel good about it because I know it's either:

a) Work a human can't do

b) Work teams don't have the bandwidth to handle, or

c) Work that sucks, that people are happy to delegate

In other words, work worth automating.

Picasso's Bull: The Art of Earning Simplicity The iterative path from complex to essential

Dive deeper in this week's edition of Unknown Arts 👇

www.unknownarts.co/p/picassos-...

Picasso drew the same bull 11 times before he got it 'right.'

Between 1945-46, he started with realistic, detailed drawings and ended with just a few simple strokes. Each drawing necessary to reach the next.

You can't shortcut your way to simplicity. You have to earn it.

Mac Miller and the Hollow Promise of Success On wealth, work, and why comfort without connection leaves us empty

I’m back from a much-needed summer break with a new essay on Mac Miller’s Small Worlds and the quiet emptiness behind “having it all.”

Part personal story, part cultural reflection, and a reminder of what makes life feel real.

www.unknownarts.co/p/mac-miller...

My 18-month work sabbatical is coming to a close this week.

I’m going to write a debrief soon covering:
1) My sabbatical experience as a whole
2) My recent application and interview processes

So I’m curious: what questions do you have?

If the people most equipped to thrive with AI are generalists with small teams, having an entrenched generation of specialists on big teams optimizing to preserve their own careers will be a big blocker to progress.

"Content creator" and "software creator": the two most essential jobs of tech's next era.

Systems thinking FTW.

Writers used to be like painters, spilling words on a blank canvas.

Now, they're becoming more like sculptors, carefully carving away AI-generated words to reveal the essence hidden beneath.

The visual side of software design will crossfade to the user.

They will collaborate with AI to create their preferred UI for a given software service.

To enable this, professional software designers shift toward designing the systems and interactions that make that collaboration possible

Building and tuning your AI's knowledge context and the tooling around it to support your workflows and outputs is probably the highest leverage thing any creative can do right now.

So much for "everyone's a designer."

With ai, it's more like "everyone's a client."

But as any designer will tell you, good clients are just as rare.

There's a whole lotta knowledge in the Unknown Arts archive just waiting to be discovered.

171 articles – multiple books worth of guidance – to help creative builders thrive.

All FREE!

Exploring using textures that have surfaced in my @midjourney feature images in my brand logo.

The amount of exploratory iteration I can do in just minutes with @midjourney still blows my mind.

Visual exploration for my recent article "AI is a Prism, Not a Source"

LA donut culture is so weird, I love it

The Project-Driven Life For creative builders, life is a series of projects, not a career path.

I’ve let creative projects guide my way across disciplines over the course of my 12+ year career.

From advertising to engineering to design to writing, I always followed my excitement, built my way forward and ended up with a career that’s unique and my own.

www.unknownarts.co/p/the-projec...

@patrickmorgan.org on the end of design certainty. ow.ly/FEZG50V3vWk

AI is a Prism, Not a Source Exploring the new dynamics of creative flow

AI is a Prism, Not a Source
www.unknownarts.co/p/creativity...

The End of Design Certainty Why AI forces us to embrace emergence instead of clinging to control and understanding

www.unknownarts.co/p/the-end-of...

This week's article "The End of Design Certainty" is resonating.

The End of Design Certainty Why AI forces us to embrace emergence instead of clinging to control and understanding

"AI doesn't respect our craving for certainty. It doesn't wait for us to fully understand it before showing results. And the more we try to force it into rigid, explainable, deterministic workflows, the more we suffocate its potential."

www.unknownarts.co/p/the-end-of...

When AI Takes the Driver's Seat OpenAI Operator and the shift to AI-first interfaces

How do we create user-centered experiences when our users aren't human?

Wrote about OpenAI Operator and the emerging greenfield space of AI-first interfaces in this week's edition of Unknown Arts.👇

www.unknownarts.co/p/when-ai-ta...

@patrickmorgan.org lists eight design breakthroughs defining AI’s future. ow.ly/TiQi50UU8Bl

Thanks for sharing!

8 design breakthroughs defining AI’s future How key interface decisions are shaping the next era of human-computer interaction

uxdesign.cc/8-design-bre...

Great bird’s eye on how UI patterns in AI developed and how design technologists are using them

8 Design Breakthroughs Defining AI's Future How key interface decisions are shaping the next era of human-computer interaction

8 Design Breakthroughs Defining AI's Future
www.unknownarts.co/p/8-design-b...

If you think 'GPT wrappers' are limited consider this: how many electric appliances do you own?

Every one is just an 'electricity wrapper' that became a distinct product to serve different user needs.

AI products will follow a similar trajectory and be as widespread.

The Moment AI Surpasses You—and What Comes After Recalibrating your worldview and learning to thrive when machines master what you do

The shock of AI surpassing human ability is coming for every creator.

The question isn't whether we'll face the moment, but how we'll choose to define ourselves when we do.

www.unknownarts.co/p/the-moment...