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Field Notes: Is The Infinite Canvas the Future of AI Innovation?

Updated: 2 hours ago

In this Ask AI Field Note recorded at the 2025 SaaS North conference, Daniel Wigdor, CEO of Axl Venture Studio, explains the importance of systems-level thinking, and why the future of AI depends on better interfaces, including a shift toward infinite canvases.



Quick Summary

Daniel Wigdor, former Research Director at Meta and Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, explains how Axl, an AI venture studio, is building new AI-enabled products and business models for established companies in Toronto.


The AI era elevates core human strengths, but teams now need manager-level skills early, including breaking work into parts, sequencing tasks, evaluating AI output, and connecting systems.


New interfaces like persistent, infinite canvases deepen human-AI collaboration beyond chat.

Systems-Level Thinking ss Essential Skill

Recorded at the 2025 SaaS North conference, this Ask AI Field Note highlights how Axl, a Toronto-based venture studio with strong ties to the University of Toronto works with established companies to identify opportunities where frontier AI can create new products and entirely new versions of their business.


Axl’s mission is to build a future where people are super-powered by AI, guided by three beliefs:


  • The future is human-centric

  • The future is built on genuine investment in one another

  • The future is immediate but never fully realized


In the clip, Daniel posits that today’s AI systems, especially agentic ones, change what it means to contribute inside a team.

“What we are really asking people to do is to have the skills of a manager from the time they are an entry-level employee.” - Daniel Wigdor, Co-Founder and CEO, Axl

He explains that collaborating with AI now requires skills that used to be reserved for senior roles: breaking work into parts, sequencing tasks, assessing output, and understanding how the pieces connect.


Without those fundamentals, teams struggle to evaluate or guide AI-generated work in a safe and productive way.


AI & The Infinite Canvas


Daniel also questions the common trend of presenting AI as a friendly talking entity.


He sees that as a fundamental misunderstanding of where the real value of AI lives. For him, the most exciting progress is happening at the API level, where people design new interfaces, coordinate agents, and build workflows that go far beyond mere imitation.


An area that he's specifically excited about is the rise of persistent, infinite canvases. Instead of static chat transcripts that pile up into long chains of versions, these emerging interfaces allow humans and AI to collaborate inside shared artifacts that stay editable and alive.


For Wigdor and for Axl, this early experimentation points to a clear principle:


AI works best when people have strong fundamentals, a human-centered mindset, and access to novel interfaces that support active collaboration, rather than basic conversation.


Explore more Ask AI Field Notes on our blog or YouTube channel.


About Ask AI


Since 2017, Ask AI has operated as an independent nonprofit helping people spot the opportunities and navigate the challenges associated with the increased adoption of artificial intelligence at work. Our volunteers produce a podcast, short videos, free resources, and open research.


We provide a trusted, balanced perspective on this transformative technology that is reshaping the future of work and redefining professions and industries worldwide.





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