Max Schoening: AI’s Role in Design and Product
Max Schoening: AI’s Role in Design and Product
Publish Date: 2026-05-02 12:02:00
Source Domain: www.startuphub.ai
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Meet Max Schoening: Schoening, Head of Product at Notion, brings significant experience from roles at GitHub, Google, and two startups. His expertise spans design, engineering, and product development.
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Democratization of Creativity with AI: Schoening highlighted how AI tools lower barriers in product development, particularly accelerating the initial 10% of any project involving brainstorming and prototyping. This accessibility fosters a more inclusive and dynamic development environment.
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Augmenting, Not Replacing, Human Ingenuity: Schoening emphasized that AI acts as a powerful co-pilot, enhancing human creative processes rather than replacing them. It frees up human talent for more strategic and creative endeavors, encouraging a proactive approach to innovation.
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Evolving Role of Designers and PMs: He discussed the convergence of roles between designers and product managers, facilitated by AI, which allows for more cross-functional collaboration and holistic product development.
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A New Kind of Universal Basic Income: Schoening suggested that knowledge work, powered by AI, serves as a new form of economic security, reducing the initial effort required to bring ideas to life and promoting experimentation and diversity in startups.
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The Future of AI in Product Development: Schoening believes that AI will continue to enable faster innovation by augmenting human capability, rather than replacing human judgment and creativity, thus dramatically changing our approach to creation and problem-solving.
