Erin and Ben chat with Laura Klein, Principal Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, about the practical realities of AI in user research. Laura teaches a class on AI for researchers and brings a refreshingly balanced perspective to cut through the hype. She explains why those "five simple prompts that will change your life" are mostly nonsense and shares where AI actually works well versus where researchers need to proceed with extreme caution.

Laura also shares her green, yellow, and red light framework for AI adoption. She champions AI for tasks like transcription and meta-analysis of old research data, while warning against using it for synthesis and insights generation without serious human oversight. The conversation explores how AI can help teams move faster without sacrificing quality, the importance of collaborative analysis sessions, and why junior researchers need extra guidance when using these tools.

This episode offers practical guidance for any researcher trying to separate AI reality from the marketing promises flooding their inbox.

Highlights

• 07:07 Green light, yellow light, red light framework
• 11:59 Framework for deciding when to use AI
• 21:06 Will AI change the researcher role
• 31:23 Focus on what AI makes possible
• 35:17 Skills for advocating against AI hype
• 42:07 AI makes things that look like insights

Resources

• Laura's NN/g AI Course
• The AI in UX Research Report
• Using AI Moderation for Research

Ben sits down with Basel Fakhoury, CEO and Co-founder of User Interviews, and Baran Erkel, Chief Strategy Officer at UserTesting, for a conversation about the research industry's evolution. With AI reshaping customer behaviors and business decisions, both executives emphasize how the need for customer insights has never been greater, even as budget pressures mount across organizations.

Basek and Baran share frameworks for executive decision making, explore how AI tools are moving beyond simply replacing human moderators toward creating entirely new research methodologies, and stress that as AI transforms products and experiences over the next few years, customer insights will be fundamental to shaping organizational cultures that keep customers at the center.

Highlights

• 05:15 How research influences corporate strategy
• 12:25 Building effective decision making cultures
• 19:07 Data formats that drive executive decisions
• 26:28 AI everywhere in research tooling landscape
• 29:30 Consolidating insights across teams and tools
• 36:45 Customer centric approach during acquisition integration

Resources

• Read more about the acquisition
• The State of User Research Report
• Visual Design for Research Workshop

Ben Wiedmaier sits with Karl Randay, Experience Director at 383, to explore how designers can stay relevant in an increasingly automated world. Karl shares insights from working with major brands like Hilton and Jaguar on digital innovation projects that blend strategy, research, and rapid prototyping.

They also talk about the "beige-ification" of design, where templated systems and AI tools risk creating homogeneous experiences across brands. Karl explains how his team uses AI as a research copilot while maintaining human craft and creativity. He also breaks down the skills modern designers need beyond visual craft, including business acumen, stakeholder communication, and the ability to translate design impact into executive language.

Highlights

• 06:26 Design challenges across multiple touchpoints
• 19:04 Simple questions unlock stakeholder priorities
• 25:31 Multi-skilled designers beyond specialization
• 32:23 Career growth through T-shaped skill development
• 36:53 The beige-ification of modern design
• 42:44 AI as creative exploration partner

Resources

• Designer's Guide to UX Research
• The 4 Steps to Redesigning Sites
• Connecting Research & Design Leadership