Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Research in the Automated Future
Gold
Friday, March 11, 2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Share the love for this talk
Research in the Automated Future
Speakers: Ovetta Sampson
Link:

Summary

Ovetta will talk with us about reinvigorating the practice by incorporating Design Anthropology into our research tool-kits and further broadening our set of methodologies to include new research methods for AI/ML design.

Key Insights

  • Design and research are tightly intertwined; it's often impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

  • Machine learning models primarily predict based on past data rather than interact dynamically with the environment.

  • Intelligent systems involve multi-agency contexts where both humans and machines have decision-making power.

  • Unlike static software, AI systems are dynamic, learning and evolving based on interactions and data.

  • Design research for AI must be future-focused and speculative, addressing not just usability but cultural values and trust.

  • Bias in AI is complex, involving mathematical, statistical, cognitive, and human biases requiring nuanced mitigation.

  • Researchers and designers need high AI and data literacy to influence data inputs and model fairness, not just outputs.

  • Explainability in AI is challenging, especially with neural networks, necessitating governance and 'glass box' approaches.

  • Design anthropology and participatory methods help uncover unspoken human practices important for automated systems.

  • Speculative prototypes (provocation prototypes) and perpetual synthesis support ongoing learning about future AI use.

Notable Quotes

"Design is the conscious and intuitive effort to impose meaningful order to chaos."

"Our role as designers and researchers will be to determine what not to design to preserve human culture and values."

"Machine learning models can see, hear, think, and act but are limited to problem-solving based on past observations."

"The relationship between a user and AI system is multi-agency; both have agency to act and influence outcomes."

"The nuance is the enemy of machine learning and AI; they struggle with ambiguity where humans thrive."

"Research for AI must go beyond single agency frameworks to consider complex ecosystems and multi-modal environments."

"It's not about looking under the hood of the model, but about what data goes into the hood that you can influence."

"There are many types of bias—mathematical, statistical, cognitive, human—and they affect AI outcomes differently."

"Explainability requires transparency at every stage with governance ensuring fairness and equity in model building."

"Speculative research requires participatory methods, putting people into future scenarios, because people often can't articulate what they will want."

Ask the Rosenbot
Nathan Curtis
Design Systems for Us: How Many One-Source(s)-of-Truth Are Enough?
2019 • DesignOps Community
Lavrans Løvlie
Ask me anything – Authors of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation
2025 • Advancing Service Design 2025
Gold
Greg Petroff
Software as Material—A Redux
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Mujtaba Hameed
The new horizon of ethnography: using AI to unlock the full potential of in-person research
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Conference
Jennifer Bolduc
What's involved with getting people back to work?: A panel discussion
2021 • DesignOps Community
Hana Nagel
Turning Research Ripples into Waves
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Nick Lewis
Designing and building low-carbon websites independently
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
Megan Nipe
Human-Centered Design for Engagement: Maturing from Newsletterville to Personalized, One-to-One Messaging
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Jeff Ephraim Bander
Eye Tracking Gamechanger: Why Smartphone Eye Tracking will Revolutionize Your UX Research
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Iain McMaster
Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Peter Levin
Solve a Problem Here, Transform a Strategy There: Research as an Occasion for Expanding Organizational Possibility
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Ellen Chisa
The Values of Design
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
AI: Passionate defenses and reasoned critique [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Smitha Papolu
Theme 3 Discussion
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold

More Videos

Christian Crumlish

"You can build your strategy into eight pages, five, three, one, half a page, then a sentence to adapt to your audience."

Christian Crumlish Wendy Johansson Rich Mironov Aditi Ruiz Adam Thomas

Afternoon Insights Panel

December 6, 2022

Michael Land

"There are lots of little mushroom patches of design sprouting up, but they're disconnected and not sharing."

Michael Land

Establishing Design Operations in Government

February 18, 2021

Bria Alexander

"MJ Broadbent’s sketchnotes are absolutely outstanding. You really do not have to take notes yourself."

Bria Alexander Louis Rosenfeld

Welcome

September 8, 2022

Surya Vanka

"Only one designer exists for every 43 developers in many large enterprises."

Surya Vanka

Unleashing Swarm Creativity to Solve Enterprise Challenges

June 10, 2021

Cassandra Piester

"It needs to be a strong structure, not necessarily super pretty, but the foundation your team sits upon and the roof above its head."

Cassandra Piester

Developing and Deploying Your Design Operations Strategy

September 24, 2024

Ariel Kennan

"Many governments need to buy design services to augment their internal capacities."

Ariel Kennan

Theme 2 Intro

December 9, 2021

Joshua Graves

"The amygdala acts as the brain’s smoke detector, smashing a button when it senses anything unsafe."

Joshua Graves

We Need To Talk: Navigating Conversations with Your Boss (Part 1 of 3)

April 14, 2025

Peter Van Dijck

"If you understand how engineers think about these models, you won’t be scared of concepts like synthetic data or tool use."

Peter Van Dijck

Building impactful AI products for design and product leaders, Part 3: Understand AI architectures: RAG, Agents, Oh My!

July 30, 2025

Bria Alexander

"Even though we are virtual, we are still community and must treat each other with kindness and respect."

Bria Alexander

Opening Remarks

November 17, 2022