Ryo Lu, Head of Design at Cursor, gave a talk at Cursor Compile 2026 that resonates hard with me, especially with all the advancements in AI agents and AI-powered development tools.
AI has collapsed the distance between an idea and its execution.
— Ryo Lu, Cursor Compile 2026
That is a perfect summary if you ask any long-time developer now using AI tools on daily basis.
The shift
Making is faster, better, cheaper. Almost anyone can ship something real in an afternoon. The risk Ryo names — and anyone who has worked alongside agents for some time now will recognize — is that the development loop becomes a black box, and humans shift from authors to approvers. We stop touching the work. We just sign off on it.
Where craft moves
As (code) generation gets cheap, craft moves in two directions at once. Upstream, into judgment — what should we build? Downstream, into responsibility — what does it mean to release this? The middle layer — making it — gets handed to the (AI) agents. The hardest parts get harder, not easier.
If you have ever shaped something into existence — code, an interface, a system, a product — this notion is instantly recognizable. The work was never just about production push. It was staying close to the work. Seeing it through. Taking pride in the result and responsibility for the impact.
Ryo's talk puts language to what real builders already feel: making is a way of thinking. The tools either keep you close to that, or they quietly take it away.
Choose being authors. Stay close to your work.