Designing in the Agent Era: YC and Paper Demo AI-Native Workflows

Y Combinator · youtube · 2026-08-07

Y Combinator released an in-depth conversation on design philosophy in the Agent era. Stephen Haney, founder of AI-native design tool Paper, joined YC General Partner Aaron Epstein to discuss how AI is transforming the way design tools are built and shipped.

Through live redesigns of user-submitted websites, they demonstrated Paper's unique agent-first workflow. The discussion highlighted common AI design flaws and showed how to fix them in seconds. They emphasized that the biggest risk for founders today isn't moving too slowly, but shipping generic, cookie-cutter AI-generated products.

Related event: YC Explores How AI-Native Tool Paper Reshapes Design Workflows(4 posts)→

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