Marko Č.
Strong foundations for the future of my design career
I was part of the first cohort in mid 2025. At the time I wasn’t too sure about AI but I knew it was coming, and coming fast, so I needed to get up to speed quickly. I could feel the change in the air for the design industry. I had also been laid off so I could feel the changes intensely. Now, in almost mid 2026, I’m so glad I did the course. Anthony really helped to lay the foundations of how to use AI which has ended up putting me ahead of a lot of the designers I’ve ended up working with since. They still use AI tools like Google whereas I’ve been able to utilise AI more like a research partner, colleague, critical eye, and sparring partner. I feel much more confident to harness the usefulness of AI rather than feel scared it’ll fully replace me. Anthony helped to reposition my thinking around it as a super useful tool that can take on some of the monotonous tasks that a machine is much better at, but also how to use it to improve my creative output, too. Since the course finished the tools have evolved so quickly. Having the foundational knowledge of how to use it without being scared of it has been the most priceless part of doing the course.
Response from House of gAiAug 6, 2026
Marko, being in that first cohort while dealing with a layoff took some nerve, and I've thought about your situation more than once since. The bit that means most here is the "research partner, colleague, critical eye, sparring partner" line. That's the whole thing. Most people are still typing questions into these tools like they're a search box, and the distance between that and what you're describing is where the actual advantage lives. If there's something that would have made it a five, I'd like to know. First cohort means you got the version with the rough edges still on, and I'd rather hear about them than guess. Ant