Artificial Intelligence is an incredibly hot topic in 2025. As users and consumers, we witness continuous advancements in AI and feel its impact on our lives firsthand. Many perceive AI as a threat—to workers, industries, and entire business sectors. However, there’s no need for excessive pessimism. At its current stage, AI can effectively be utilized as a tool to enhance work processes and daily life. Many industries can benefit from AI assistance.
Recently, there have been loud reports about AI potentially taking over the work of computer graphic designers. But is this a realistic threat? How can we effectively use AI tools in graphic design and mockup creation? I provide answers to these and other questions in this article.
Why Graphic Designers Have an Edge Over Artificial Intelligence
There are voices from all sides suggesting AI will replace many specialists. Among the most popularly cited industries at risk of AI displacement are translation, computer graphics, creative creators, and many others. However, it’s crucial to consider the current level of AI development. It is not yet advanced enough to fully replace humans, especially in terms of errors and other shortcomings.
I would like to focus specifically on the computer graphics and mockup creation industry. Despite tools such as automatic image generation and DALL-e, which may seem threatening, I will present several key reasons why clients prefer to use real graphic design services.
Innovation
AI is based on publicly available information. Its calculations, and thus the generated images, largely rely on existing works. Unlike humans, AI cannot innovate or create new, previously unseen visions. Clients often seek new ideas and freshness in designing their products, which only a living and creative human mind can provide.
Uniqueness
The argument for the uniqueness of human work somewhat overlaps with innovation. Similar to the creation of new things, AI cannot produce a unique and irreplaceable piece of work that is 100% individual and not based on existing ideas.
Accurate Vision
AI image generation tools are often inaccurate and require the user to limit their ideas to text descriptions, which are often misinterpreted. A professional graphic designer can create several visualizations and ultimately reach an agreement with the client that fully matches their vision.
Lack of Errors
When working with tools that generate artificial graphics, errors are very common. AI has its own “artificial style,” which is noticeable at first glance. We can easily find examples where AI generates unrealistic images, despite efforts to create something similar to the real world.
Professionalism
As mentioned earlier, AI has its own distinctive and repeatable style of generating images, which is noticeable at first glance. Using AI for professional use, without subsequent adjustments made by a human, may be seen as unprofessional and perceived as taking the path of least resistance.
How to Effectively Utilize AI in the Mockup Industry
Creating mockups, or virtual models and visualizations of end products, is a large industry with significant potential for using AI to streamline and automate processes. Mockups heavily rely on the work of computer graphic designers, who create advanced models and visualizations of final products.
As mentioned earlier, AI cannot replace most of the qualities of graphic designers but can be a useful tool to speed up work. Images generated by AI, which can be created in large quantities with minimal time investment, can be used to:
- Outline visions and select the most desirable projects.
- Ensure rapid and efficient client communication by generating initial visualizations, which is crucial in finalizing a project created by a professional graphic designer.
- Minimize errors in work—advanced models can detect flaws in dozens of projects at once. Instead of separate, manual checks of each mockup, we can use AI tools to streamline tedious and repetitive work.
AI is an Excellent Tool for the Mockup Industry
As you can see, artificial intelligence cannot replace computer graphic designers who create mockup designs, among other projects. Graphic designers can create unique visualizations that do not directly mimic other works and can develop clear visions based on sample visualizations and direct client contact.
However, it is essential not to close ourselves off to new solutions. The use of AI in the graphic design industry is extensive and can effectively simplify and accelerate work.