Design teams are constantly battling the clock to validate real concepts, but static prototypes aren't enough. To move beyond static mockups, designers can leverage AI-powered codegen tools like V0 to generate interactive, production-quality prototypes instantly from a simple text prompt, bridging the gap between concept and code. This shift enables designers to build interactive, code-backed prototypes that behave like real products, test nuanced flows and micro-interactions directly with users, and iterate faster while keeping design intent intact. With tools like V0, designers can prototype with real code, moving beyond "Does this look good?" to "Does this actually work for our users?" and raising the bar for design quality by capturing complexity and system logic in interactive, production-like prototypes. By working with AI codegen, designers learn to shape the output, treating it like a developer, being specific in prompts, sanity-checking the output, and unlocking new workflows that enable them to focus on real product challenges rather than pixel tweaks.