Paul Ford: Writer, developer & "fun Cassandra" on why everything is changing (but not how you think)

About this episode

Paul Ford discusses the transformative impact of AI and his unique perspective as a writer and developer.

Paul Ford likes to call himself a “fun Cassandra” — someone who, like the priestess in Greek mythology, sees trouble coming, but unlike her tries to make the warning as entertaining as possible. He’s the writer, developer, and co-founder of the tech agency Aboard who saw Claude Code drop last November and immediately understood it was going to change everything — while finding, to his surprise, that most people around him simply weren’t seeing it that way. This is a preview of a premium episode. Find the full interview on our Substack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/paul-ford That same instinct is what drew him into AI early. Where others hedged, Paul dove in — vibe coding nonstop, running full enterprise subscriptions for his entire team, and building in earnest. But he’s not a fanboy. He’s a critical optimist who believes something important is happening, while holding equal concern about the companies pushing it, the students expected to learn from it, and the decades of hard-won knowledge that might be quietly evaporating in the rush. Paul is also an English major who sold an agency, a developer who thinks in prose, and a father of 14-year-old twins — one of the most…

People in this episode

Guest: Paul Ford

Topics covered

• AI
• technology
• writing
• development
• optimism
• design

Keywords

• AI
• Paul Ford
• technology
• writing
• development
• optimism
• Cassandra

Sponsors

Wix Studio

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aboard, Wired, The New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek

Products: Claude Code

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