This article was originally published on May 21, 2025, and has since been updated.
Overwhelm is a common feeling when it comes to harnessing AI in your research and design practice. Is your application ethical? What are the potential implications down the road? And how do you make a AI product that people resonate with and actually want to use?
This roundup covers your bases and then some. Start out with foundational approaches, then move on to tactical tips and real-world use cases that show thoughtful AI in action. The best time to start is now.
Foundational (and philosophical) approaches
Before you start applying AI to your practices and products, it’s important to take a step back and evaluate the potential implications—the good, the bad, and the in between. These resources will get you thinking.
- GPT Needs UXR
User research can help us understand and utilize AI both effectively and ethically. But AI can also provide opportunities for UXR at a pivotal time. A message from Dscout’s CEO, Michael Winnick. - Co-Lab 2025 Keynote: The Emerging Shape of a New UX [Video]
Julie Norvaisas explores how AI is reshaping UX and calls on researchers and designers to embrace its power as a tool—not a teammate—to shape a more intentional, human-centered future. - Overcoming UXR's "Wet Blanket" Reputation in the Age of AI
User researchers are often unfairly pinned as being sticks in the mud. How can we evolve our roles in the fast-moving world of AI developments? - AI Heralds a Seismic Shift in Design. Here’s How to Evolve
AI is taking over joyless routine tasks, freeing Design and Research to focus on human-centered work and influencing probabilistic experiences. - How to Build Critical Thinking Skills for AI-Driven Research
To harness the superpower of AI to positive ends, strengthen your critical thinking skills and see AI as a tool to help you do more—not a replacement for your critical thinking.
Tactical tips for AI in research
Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts. What steps can you take to make AI work best for you and your team? From measuring success to training a AI assistant, you’ll find it here.
- 7 Ways to Apply Critical Thinking Skills to AI-Driven Research
Once you’ve done the groundwork to develop a critical lens towards using AI, it’s time to apply it to your research. Here are some helpful ways to start. - How to Approach Studies on AI [Guide]
User research must play a critical role in the development of AI—but what that role looks like is anything but straightforward. Here's where to start. - Use This Framework to Embed AI Into Your Everyday UX Practice
Starting with mapping and auditing and moving to embedding and repeating, this process helps you evaluate your AI usage in any UX context. - AI Frameworks + Prompts to Optimize Your Entire Research Process
Our experts weigh in on techniques like the clarity chain and participant mirror to help your research and design run more smoothly and efficiently. - 15 Tips for Navigating AI as a UXR [Guide]
Ready or not, AI is here. We’ve conducted research with UXRs in the field so that you can feel prepared. - Measuring Success When AI Products Have Ambiguous Use Cases
Products with unlimited and unpredictable use cases make it hard to measure success against standard metrics. This guide will help. - How to Train AI to Work as Your Personal Research Assistant
AI pulls from limited resources—and only knows as much as you tell it. These tips will help you improve its effectiveness for research purposes. - How UXRs Can Apply Thoughtful Friction to Guide AI Use
See how gameplay’s use of thoughtful friction applies to UX product development, including practical steps your team can take today.
Product building use cases
One of the best ways to learn is seeing firsthand how others have accomplished similar tasks. These use cases give real-world examples of how prominent companies like Headspace and Duolingo harnessed AI in their favor.
- Guide: How to Build Better Products with AI-Supported Research
Practical steps to integrate AI into your research and product-building, from study planning to implementation. - How Headspace Created a Safe Reflection Experience Using GenAI
Priyanka Marawar discusses how Headspace navigated the challenge ethically to build a GenAI experience that centers on member safety and wellbeing. - How to Create Meaningful Personalization in Your AI Products
Learn how to apply the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework when building your next personalized product for results that will pleasantly surprise your users. - Real-World AI Applications You Can Use in Your Research Today
From designing test studies to strategic foresight and storyboarding, the possibilities of AI in your research practice are endless. - AI Fundamentals: How to Build LLM-Enabled Products
When you have untold amounts of data to sift through and synthesize, GenAI can be a massive help—but a quality analysis product won’t happen overnight. - Beyond the Hype: Building AI Products Teams Actually Trust [Video]
Curious how to build trustworthy AI features that people actually use? Dscout CEO Michael Winnick and Marvin CEO Prayag Narula unpack product principles, share real examples, and reveal how UXR is shaping the future of AI. - How Duolingo UXRs Support AI Product Development [Video]
Meredith McDermott (Staff User Researcher at Duolingo) shares real examples of how the company incorporates AI into their product.
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