Written by John Maeda Design in Tech Report 2026: From UX to AX — presented at SXSW 2026

All text below is the original, unedited work of John Maeda, open-sourced as part of the E-P-I-A-S × SAE Framework for AI upskilling product designers.

Overview The E-P-I-A-S x SAE Framework L1 to L2 Transition L2 to L3 Transition L3 to L4 Transition

About the E-P-I-A-S × SAE Framework

From John Maeda's Design in Tech Report 2026: From UX to AX, presented at SXSW 2026. This framework maps AI adoption for product designers along two axes:

SAE Levels (Automation)

L0Manual — no AI
L1AI-Assisted — AI suggests, you decide
L2Partially Automated — AI builds chunks
L3Guided Automation — IDE-centric workflows
L4Mostly Automated — harness-centric
L5Full Automation — aspirational

E-P-I-A-S (Maturity)

EExplorer — trying things, learning basics
PPractitioner — consistent habits
IIntegrator — part of workflow
AArchitect — systems others use
SSteward — setting standards
“An S-Steward at L1 is more valuable than an E-Explorer at L4. Depth of judgment beats breadth of tooling.” — John Maeda, DIT 2026

This framework is a living document. The source content may have been updated since this app was built. Check the GitHub repository for the latest version.

The E-P-I-A-S x SAE Framework →