The next revolution in AI isn’t another tool, it’s a reconstruction of how organizations think, act, and create meaning.
Strategist and designer Kwame Nyanning (Partner & Chief Design Officer at EY Seren) argues that the companies who win the agentic era won’t be the fastest to automate — they’ll be the first to redesign their ontology: the invisible system of goals, relationships, and decisions that define value. His book Agentics, How to design AI agents for impact, growth & innovations reframes AI not as a tool, but as a design medium for intent, alignment, and emergence.
What you’ll learn:
➤ How agentic systems blur the line between user, product, and enterprise—and what it means to lead in that new reality.
➤ Why design is shifting from pixel-perfect outputs to intent-perfect systems, where meaning and business-redefining ontology drives performance.
➤ Why the real risk of automation isn’t lost jobs but lost meaning, and how friction, constraint, and emotion become the new luxury.
➤ How agencies and teams can thrive by trading efficiency for proof of alignment and outcomes that matter.
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This is episode 45 of the Design of AI Podcast.
And please make sure to rate this podcast if you find it valuable. Your podcast ratings and comments are the best way to influence which topics we cover in future episodes.
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
Our next AI Product Strategy workshop is happening on November 20.
In this 3-hour online workshop you’ll leverage our framework for discovering and pressure-testing disruptive AI product ideas. Get more info at designof.ai/workshop
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
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Kwame Nyanning is a strategist, designer, and thought leader working at the intersection of AI, enterprise transformation, and human-centered design. Formerly with McKinsey, Frog, and Infosys, and now embedded in EY Saren, Kwame’s work explores how organizations must move beyond incremental automation and instead reimagine their very ontology — the foundational logic of how value and meaning are created.
Follow him on Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kwamenyanning
Buy his must-read book here Available in paperback or Kindle.
Follow Design of AI podcast here:
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Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DesignofAI
Product teams are moving fast on AI—but speed without discovery is a trap. Teresa Torres—author of Continuous Discovery Habits and one of the most trusted voices in modern product thinking—reveals why teams that skip real customer contact are building faster and failing faster.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
Avoid the AI discovery trap: Don’t fall for synthetic users, fake insights, and “discovery theater.” Teresa shows how to ground AI-assisted research in real human context so your data actually leads to defensible products.
Use AI to think deeper, not cheaper: Learn the high-leverage ways AI can supercharge synthesis, spot patterns across thousands of signals, and accelerate prototyping—without replacing the empathy and nuance only humans can see.
Turn discovery into your moat: Discover why first-hand customer contact is still the ultimate competitive edge—and how teams using AI to augment discovery (not outsource it) are finding opportunities their competitors miss.
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This is episode 44 of the Design of AI Podcast.
If this conversation helps you build smarter, rate the podcast and leave a comment—your feedback shapes the next topics we explore.
Want to go deeper? Subscribe to our Substack newsletter for AI strategy & research insights.
Our next AI Product Strategy Workshop is on November 20. In this 3-hour online session, you’ll learn our framework for discovering and pressure-testing disruptive AI product ideas. Get details at https://designof.ai/workshop.
—----------
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DesignofAI
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Teresa Torres is a globally recognized product discovery coach and author of Continuous Discovery Habits. Through her company, Product Talk, she’s helped thousands of teams build the habits that make products succeed: weekly customer conversations, continuous assumption testing, and opportunity mapping that ties directly to outcomes.
She also hosts two podcasts—All Things Product (with Petra Wille) and Just Now Possible, where she interviews product teams building the next generation of AI-driven experiences.
Links:
Blog: ProductTalk.org
Community: Members.ProductTalk.org
Product Talk Academy: Learn.ProductTalk.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ttorres
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/teresatorres/
Product teams and founders are under pressure, stuck in incremental roadmaps and burning out on short‑term wins. Michelle Lee—Partner & Executive Managing Director of IDEO’s Play Lab—shows why play is the hidden driver of markets that reshape industries.
In this episode you’ll learn how to:
Break the trap of incremental roadmaps: discover how playful divergence helps teams and founders uncover bolder product bets instead of chasing competitors.
Spark breakthroughs your competitors miss: use playful tools like postcards from the future and sandboxing to unlock the next market‑shaping idea.
Measure what drives loyalty and growth: move past vanity metrics to attitudinal loyalty and “time well spent” so your product earns deep, lasting adoption.
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This is episode 43 of the Design of AI Podcast.
And please make sure to rate this podcast if you find it valuable. Your podcast ratings and comments are the best way to influence which topics we cover in future episodes.
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
Our next AI Product Strategy workshop is happening on October 30.
In this 3-hour online workshop you’ll leverage our framework for discovering and pressure-testing disruptive AI product ideas. Get more info at https://designof.ai/workshop
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
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As a Partner and Executive Managing Director, Michelle leads IDEO's Play Lab, an interdisciplinary team of designers and researchers who build upon 30+ years of toy invention to bring engaging, interactive, and playful experiences to market. She believes that play is essential across all ages.
Immersed in a globally recognized human-centered design firm, the Play Lab leverages play as a mindset and approach that enables organizations to engage diverse stakeholders, imagine new possibilities, and spark action to transform behaviors, environments and systems. They've brought play to address diverse challenges from enhancing workplace culture to championing responsible digital design, inspiring underrepresented students to pursue careers in STEM, supporting organizations as they've adopted practices in line with a circular economy, and designing impactful products and services across industries, including education, consumer products, health, finance and workplace culture. Michelle regularly speaks and writes about her passion for play, including presentations at SXSW, The Delight Conference, The Culture Summit, Circularity 23, and educational institutions and organizations around the world, inviting audiences to reimagine the power of play in shaping meaningful futures.
Learn more about her work:
https://linkedin.com/in/michellesklee
Product and growth teams are under pressure: reps spend most of their time not selling, marketers juggle every stage of the funnel at once, and new products struggle to even be seen as LLMs start deciding who shows up.
Nicholas Holland, SVP of Product & Head of AI at HubSpot, explains how AI-assisted teams are already changing that—and what happens to teams that don’t adapt.
In this episode you’ll learn:
➤ How AI is cutting wasted sales time and turning calls into structured insights.
➤ Why “AI Engine Optimization” (AEO) matters more than SEO for visibility in an LLM-driven world.
➤ How “vibe marketing” moves from messy brainstorm to campaign, asset, and one-to-one personalization.
➤ Why every individual needs an AI assistant, and every team needs its first agent, within 12–18 months.
➤ The risks of treating AI as optional instead of rethinking how your team works.
If you’ve wondered how marketing, sales, and product roles will actually change in the next two years, this conversation makes it concrete.
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This is episode 42 of the Design of AI Podcast.
Follow us on Substack and LinkedIn to get even more AI product strategy content.
And please make sure to rate this podcast if you find it valuable. Your podcast ratings and comments are the best way to influence which topics we cover in future episodes.
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Remember that on September 18 we’re hosting an AI Product Strategy Workshop online.
MIT recently published a study showing that 95% of AI projects are failing.They’re spending without a strategy and building before they know what customers actually want.
Join this workshop on September 18th to build out a vision, strategy and plan that will succeed for your business.
Register at https://designof.ai/workshop & https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ai-product-strategy-workshop-tickets-1560702245429
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
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About our guest:
Nicholas Holland is Head of AI at HubSpot where he oversees product strategy, development, and adoption of Breeze, HubSpot's AI that powers the entire customer platform. Breeze combines a unified data foundation, AI-powered tools, digital workers (agents), and embedded workflows to help businesses become AI-first. Previously, Nicholas led HubSpot’s marketing products, growing them from ~$400M to $1.4B.
HubSpot recently Launched Breeze, their new AI Assistant
It took 30 years to build and design an easy-to-use internet. But it took Vibe Coding one year to challenge the foundations of the internet. We’re entering an era where you can build websites and apps by talking to an AI agent and they take care of the front end and back end. Today we’re speaking with Maor Shlomo, the Founder of Base44 – we’re discussing the disruptive potential and gaps of vibe coding.
In this episode you’ll learn:
➤ How Maor built Base44 by himself and why Wix acquired it for $80M within 6 months
➤ Disruptions that will transform how we build and use software
➤ Software teams will get much smaller and what this means for specialist roles
Our take on this conversation is that Vibe Coding is still in an early phase, offering very inconsistent results. But as Base44, Lovable, V0, Replit and others are proving, this category is innovating at an insanely fast pace and results are improving constantly. We need to take it seriously and believe that small teams will be able to deliver much more. This is bad news for head count and will mean many roles —like product managers and researchers— will merge.
This is episode 41 of the Design of AI Podcast.
We provide strategies to ensure your AI product succeeds.
Follow us on Substack and LinkedIn to get even more AI product strategy content.
And another important update.
We’ve been getting a lot of messages from product teams. They’re getting pushed to build AI products without a clear strategy. They’re being asked to use AI as a secret weapon to gain a competitive advantage.
Join us on Thursday September 18 for an online AI product strategy workshop led by my co-host, Arpy Dragffy and Brittany Hobbs. You’ll learn the best steps to identify, ideate, and test AI products. This workshop will be small and extremely hands-on. We’ll focus on how to leverage AI to enhance an existing app or website, as well as how to pinpoint an industry-defining net-new product.
This workshop will happen on September 18
Register at https://designof.ai/workshop & https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ai-product-strategy-workshop-tickets-1560702245429
And please make sure to rate this podcast if you find it valuable. Your podcast ratings and comments are the best way to influence which topics we cover in future episodes.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn in our group.
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859
There’s no denying that AI agents will transform work, but there’s no roadmap for how to design successful agents. Jamil Valliani, Atlassian’s VP & Head of Product AI, joins us to share his secrets for building AI products in one of the most respected ecosystems in tech —Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello, and more. He also spent 15 years leading products a Microsoft.
In this episode you’ll learn:
➤ Which types of problems to focus on
➤ Measuring the effectiveness of your AI product
➤ AI capabilities features that will define the future of work
➤ How to compete as a founder and small startup
This episode offers strategic and practical advice for product managers, designers, researchers, and founders who are embarking on creating successful AI products.
Jamil Valliani is a 20-year Search and AI industry veteran based in Seattle. As Head of Product for AI, he is focused on delivering transformative ways for teams to work using the power of Search and AI. Before Atlassian, Jamil built his career at Microsoft. He spent over 15 years leading product teams such as Bing Image Search and Video Search, among the first to use computer vision and other deep learning techniques to deliver industry-leading multimedia search experiences. He also led a three-year effort that landed many new AI features across Microsoft products, including Outlook, Teams, Windows, and Surface. He also founded Microsoft's Services Marketplace business.
Follow him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamil-valliani-b131881/
And make sure to check out Atlassian’s new AI-powered teamwork agent, Rovo https://www.atlassian.com/software/rovo
This is episode 40 of the Design of AI Podcast.
We provide practical strategies to ensure your AI product succeeds.
Follow us on Substack and LinkedIn to get even more AI product strategy content.
And another important update.
We’ve been getting a lot of messages from product teams. They’re getting pushed to build AI products without a clear strategy. They’re being asked to use AI as a secret weapon to gain a competitive advantage.
Join us on Thursday September 18 for an online AI product strategy workshop led by my co-host, Arpy Dragffy and myself. You’ll learn the best steps to identify, ideate, and test AI products. This workshop will be small and extremely hands-on. We’ll focus on how to leverage AI to enhance an existing app or website, as well as how to define an industry-defining net-new product.
This workshop will happen on September 18
Register at https://designof.ai/workshop
This episode was brought to you by PH1 Research, specialized in rapid research to improve product decisions about your next AI release. Validate use cases, test concepts, prove monetization opportunities.
This episode was hosted by
Brittany Hobbs https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Your biggest business problems are hiding in plain sight—scattered across customer service calls, survey responses, app store reviews, and sales conversations. Our guest is Jochem van der Veer, CEO of TheyDo, reveals how organizations can unlock their biggest problems by using AI to connect data sources that were previously unimaginable.
In this episode you’ll learn how to:
➤ Unlock the power of your customer data and insights
➤ Use journey maps in innovative ways
➤ Create an intelligence layer to make product decisions
Timestamps:01:20 Guest Introduction02:04 The Journey Mapping Evolution02:47 Building the CX Tool03:37 Challenges in Journey Mapping05:04 AI-Powered Journey Management07:08 Real-World Applications and Insights08:46 The Future of Journey Management13:23 Data Quality and AI Decision Making20:06 Practical Examples and Use Cases21:58 Identifying Customer Pain Points22:28 Evaluating Data Sources and Relevance24:51 Addressing Silos in Organizations27:23 Future of User Research and Insights32:15 Dynamic Personas and Adaptive Campaigns36:39 Quantifying Qualitative Insights40:01 Exciting AI Platforms and Tools
Jochem van der Veer is the Co-Founder and CEO of TheyDo, a leading platform for journey management that helps organisations build seamless customer experiences by aligning teams around the customer journey. With a background in design thinking and innovation, Jochem has dedicated his career to helping businesses scale customer-centric strategies. Under his leadership, TheyDo has empowered global brands to move from siloed operations to collaborative, journey-driven workflows that drive better decision-making and growth. Passionate about design, systems thinking, and the future of work, Jochem is a frequent speaker on the intersection of customer experience and business strategy.
He’s also the host of the Experience Edge Podcast, a great resource to learn about how to improve product & customer experience.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in AI product strategy & concept testing. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859
Product teams are under pressure to deliver value from AI immediately and most are failing to achieve monetization. But when large enterprises want to deliver industry-changing products, they go to IDEO, the most prestigious design consultancy in the world.
Our guest is Savannah Kunovsky, Managing Director of IDEO’s Emerging Technology Lab. Savannah brings businesses from today’s realities to the worlds we’ll live in next.
In this episode you’ll learn:
➤ IDEO’s approach to leading the most challenging innovation projects
➤ How to increase the likelihood of your AI product’s success
➤ The power of identifying audiences for your product
➤ Importance of unlocking AI’s intelligence AND human potential
➤ How artists are leading our envisioning about the future of AI
This episode is the perfect inspiration for designers, product managers, researchers, and founders who want to deliver transformative experiences.
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide secrets for building AI products that customers value.
If you have guests you want to recommend or need help with your product, contact us info@designof.ai
Remember to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It also really helps us if you leave reviews.
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If you value his type of product & career advice follow our Substack newsletter
This episode was brought to you by PH1 Research specialized in rapid research to improve product decisions about your next AI release. Validate use cases, test concepts, prove monetization opportunities.
Email info@ph1.ca and mention the Design of AI podcast to get a 15% discount.
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
Follow us here:
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What if AI had emotional intelligence? What if it could interpret our non-verbal cues?
Try to use a chat bot and all of this sounds far-fetched right now, but there are startups and researchers developing specialized models that add emotional intelligence to AI-powered products.
In this episode we had a discussion with the founder of Interhuman AI about use cases and possibilities of this new intelligence layer. She believes that it will transform every business’ ability to deliver sales and support products that are finally impactful. Also, that emotional intelligence capabilities will transform how employees are trained and get ongoing feedback.
In this episode, you'll learn:
➤ Why the next frontier of AI will be interpreting human behaviour
➤ The possibilities & use cases of emotional AI technologies
➤ The importance of building specialized models in a world dominated by OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic
Our guest is Paula Petcu, CEO and co-founder of Interhuman AI. Interhuman AI develops the social intelligence layer for AI applications. She has been working at the intersection of health and technology for the past 10 years. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulapetcu/
Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast. We provide secrets for how to build AI products that customers value.
Please follow us on your favorite podcasting apps and make sure to leave a review if you like this type of product & career advice.
This episode was brought to you by PH1 Research, specialized in rapid research to improve product decisions about your next AI release. Validate use cases, test concepts, prove monetization opportunities.
This episode was hosted by
Brittany Hobbs https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
What does it mean when the largest consumer tech company in the world says AI isn't so intelligent after all?
Over the last week Apple has dominated AI headlines and not for the reason you'd expect. Their research team released a paper called "The Illusion of Thinking." (Authors: Parshin Shojaee, Iman Mirzadeh, Keivan Alizadeh, Maxwell Horton, Samy Bengio, Mehrdad Farajtabar)
This quote from Gary Marcus' newsletter sums it best:
"What the Apple paper shows, most fundamentally, regardless of how you define AGI, is that LLMs are no substitute for good well-specified conventional algorithms. (They also can’t play chess as well as conventional algorithms, can’t fold proteins like special-purpose neurosymbolic hybrids, can’t run databases as well as conventional databases, etc.)"
This was then followed by Apple's developer event this week where Apple continued to under-deliver on market expectations of AI releases in iOS and beyond.
In this episode we explore what it means for builders and business users of AI that Apple is playing the spoiler role compared to OpenAI and Google's role as hypers of GAI.
We present a path forward for leveraging the increasing task accuracy and task accuracy of the latest LLMs. And we discuss the risk of the illusion of reasoning within LLMs as it relates to employers looking to reduce headcount.
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide secrets for building AI products that customers value.
If you have guests you want to recommend or need help with your product, contact us info@designof.ai
Remember to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It also really helps us if you leave reviews.
—----------
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DesignofAI
There’s no doubt, AI will be able to automate product, marketing, and sales workflows. But GenAI’s greatest achievement could be expanding our creative potential.
In this episode you’ll learn about:
➤ How AI’s ability to understand context and intent will change everything
➤ That communicating via visuals instead of words will innovate decision-making
➤ The differences in working in a design-led culture vs. production line orgs
➤ Preparing for a world of AI as a creative partner & provocateur
➤ What creative AI products can do today and in the near future
Our guest, Tuhin Kumar, has worked on the bleeding edge of user experience design his entire career, creating some of the most memorable interactions on Facebook, Airbnb, and Apple’s platforms.
In this conversation we explore why he decided to lead design at Luma, a GenAI platform challenging our perspectives on the creative potential of video and images. As we enter an era where anyone can create average assets, we must find new ways of pushing the boundaries of creativity. Pioneers, like Tuhin, are building a future that equips product teams and creatives across all industries with new capabilities to innovate how we design.
Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide secrets for building AI products that customers love.
If you have guests you want to recommend or need help with your product, contact us info@designof.ai
Remember to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It also really helps us if you leave reviews.
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Tuhin Kumar has shaped everything from Apple’s macOS features to Airbnb’s global design system and was the first designer at LinkedIn Pulse. At NVIDIA-backed Luma an AI video generator with 25M+ users that many find better than Sora, he’s at the forefront of AI's impact on reshaping design—not just as a tool, but as a creative collaborator—crafting modular systems that can adapt to rapid research breakthroughs. Tuhin’s work blurs the line between art and utility and how creative vision can thrive alongside tech.
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at PH1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859
We have two special guests. Dr. Emily M. Bender & Dr. Alex Hanna, the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. This review best captures why you should read this book:
A smart, incisive look at the technologies sold as artificial intelligence, the drawbacks and pitfalls of technology sold under this banner, and why it’s crucial to recognize the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world.
Get more info about the book at https://thecon.ai
This episode challenges the hype around AI and is a critical conversation for anyone working in technology or planning to leverage AI. In this episode we cover:
➤ Exaggerations and limitations of AI & LLMs
➤ Until we know how LLMs are trained, we can’t trust them
➤ Focussing on assisting users, not replacing workers
➤ Workers must stand up and resist AI automation
➤ The damage caused by AI hype boosters & doomers
Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. In 2023, she was included in the inaugural Time 100 list of the most influential people in AI. She is frequently consulted by policymakers, from municipal officials to the federal government to the United Nations, for insight into how to understand so-called AI technologies.
Dr. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a Lecturer in the School of Information at the University of California Berkeley. She is an outspoken critic of the tech industry, a proponent of community-based uses of technology, and a highly sought-after speaker and expert who has been featured across the media, including articles in the Washington Post, Financial Times, The Atlantic, and Time.
Dr Bender & Dr. Hanna are also the hosts of the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 podcast, where they take on the latest news from AI and technology.
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and strategists excel in a rapidly changing future.
Remember to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It also really helps us if you leave reviews.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
And if you want more AI strategy & research content, subscribe to our substack newsletter at https://designofai.substack.com/
Thanks for listening to the Design of AI podcast
If you like this episode please follow us on your podcast app and leave us a review.
This episode is brought to you by PH1 Research, a research & strategy consultancy specialized in mapping the future of your business & product. Get more info at ph1.ca
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
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Designers are overwhelmed with too many AI products that promise to help them simplify workflows and solve the last mile of design-to-code. With the announcements of Figma Site and Figma Make at the the Config conference, the amount of options to consider has increased even more.
In this episode you’ll discover:
1. Ranking of which AI design-to-code products are recommended by a UX expert
2. Assessment of whether designers should rely on these tools
3. Learn more hacks on how to get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, and Manus, including deep research versions
This episode will help designers, product managers, developers, and anyone working with tech to elevate their design and production capabilities by leveraging the latest AI capabilities and the "Vibe-coding" trend.
Our special guest is Roger Wong. He is a forward-thinking design leader with extensive experience in cultivating brand loyalty and enhancing customer experiences for prominent tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel. His career spans over two decades during which he founded Wong.Digital, led design at two startups, and managed significant creative teams, notably for Samsung Mobile. His passion for innovation is demonstrated through his cofounding of Transported VR, a pioneering venture in virtual reality real estate, and his side project of developing an AI tool to assist designers in crafting brand strategies. His contributions to the design field have been recognized by Communication Arts, Graphis, One Show, Clio Awards, and Cannes Lions. Holding a BFA in graphic design from the California College of the Arts, he has also contributed to academics as a professor and advisory board member at San Diego City College.
He writes about design, AI, UX, and technology on his blog: https://rogerwong.me
Read his full analysis of the design-to-code AI products: https://rogerwong.me/2025/04/beyond-the-prompt
What you need to know about this evaluation:
“If you're wanting to close the design-to-code gap, consider Subframe. While AI is part of its feature set, it is not the only selling point. In my opinion, its strength is in being able to design with and manipulate React components visually.
Finally, for quick ideas and prototypes, check out v0. Because the output is mostly unstyled, it makes for great wireframe-like prototypes that are shareable. By playing with working prototypes, it's very quickly apparent what you should incorporate into your designs.“
This episode was hosted by:
Brittany Hobbs is VP of Insights at Huge, a global design and technology consultancy. I lead research initiatives to build the next generation of consumer and business applications for the world’s biggest brands. My focus is on humanizing technology at scale, often leveraging AI to discover breakthroughs in human-computer interaction.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero is the Founder & Principal Strategist at PH1 Research. He researches and maps how organizations should leverage emerging technologies to improve products and services. By combining behavioral science and service design methods with UX strategy, he won clients such as Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, the National Football League, and dozens more across the private and public sectors.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
Follow us here:
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3O11vQKPpKI5ZlJhdRGwnf
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-of-ai-product-strategy-innovation-career-growth/id1734499859
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DesignofAI
Employers and the media are pressuring us to adopt AI quickly. But overreliance on large language models poses huge risks. Not only is GenAI highly likely to make mistakes, we’re putting the entire data set of our businesses at risk if we take AI results as immediate truth.
In this episode we discuss and debate the risks and remedies for businesses rushing to adopt AI for core work flows and services. Listen to this episode to learn about:
➤ The impact of time pressure on teams on production & quality
➤ Risks of over reliance on technology that’s frequently incorrect
➤ Importance of focused use cases and training data
➤ Recognizing the importance of expertise & critical analysis
➤ Pinpointing how to best leverage AI to improve workflows
Today we’re trying out a new format which we plan to include between quest episodes from time to time. This allows us to share our own experience as consultants and practitioners, and to bring together learnings across multiple interviews. If you want to see more episodes like this,please reach out and let us know.
Brittany Hobbs is VP of Insights at Huge, a global design and technology consultancy. I lead research initiatives to build the next generation of consumer and business applications for the world’s biggest brands. My focus is on humanizing technology at scale, often leveraging AI to discover breakthroughs in human-computer interaction.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
My co-host is Arpy Dragffy Guerrero. He is the Founder & Principal Strategist at PH1 Research. He researches and maps how organizations should leverage emerging technologies to improve products and services. By combining behavioral science and service design methods with UX strategy, he won clients such as Spotify, Microsoft, Mozilla, the National Football League, and dozens more across the private and public sectors.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
Follow us here:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
Tell us about your AI product experiences:
Go to https://designof.ai to share your AI product recommendations and product ratings.
Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. https://designofai.substack.com/
AI is changing how we design and the types of products we build.
It’s still unclear exactly what the future of design looks like, but architecture reveals important lessons about how AI will transform the creative process and how it can improve the efficiency of major development projects.
Matt Krissel, the Co-Founder of the Built Environment Futures Council, joins us to discuss how AI is disrupting architecture and lessons for digital product teams. He really struck powerful points many times during our conversation about questioning the role of time and permanence in a world when we want more, faster.
We covered a lot of topics:
➤ Flipping the creative process on its head
➤ Incremental growth is fine but let’s reimagine processes
➤ What should we be doing with more productivity?
➤ Getting punch-drunk on complexity & novelty
➤ The value of modelling complex project operations
Matthew is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a principal at Perkins&Will, a global, interdisciplinary architecture and design firm. For over two decades, he has led transformative architectural projects across North America and internationally. His portfolio ranges from iconic, institution-defining buildings to small homes with big ideas.
Drawing from his extensive work and deep interest in design and technology, Matthew co-founded the Built Environment Futures Council (BEFC) in 2023. This diverse national group of designers and builders works to advance the discourse and opportunities for design, technology, and artificial intelligence in architecture and construction. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, where he works to help shape the next generation of design leaders.
Follow him and his work:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-krissel
https://www.creativelab3.com/matthew
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
Go to https://designof.ai to share your AI product recommendations and product ratings.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. https://designofai.substack.com/
What seemed unimaginable a few years ago is now possible because AI is becoming cheaper and more accessible to any entrepreneur. Unlocking your data & building point solutions are the key.
By focusing on high value, repeating business problems you can leverage AI’s predictive capabilities to solve any use case.
This is episode 30 and our guest is Tyler Hochman, CEO of FORE Enterprise. We’re discussing how you can take control of AI’s predictive power. This episode is a roadmap for product teams and entrepreneurs looking to unlock their data’s disruptive potential.
In this episode we cover:
➤ Focus on AI’s immense data structuring capabilities
➤ Hacks of get the data needed to train your model
➤ Why Entrepreneurs should focus on building point solutions
➤ AI can predict when you’ll quit your job & how to keep you
➤ Data privacy becoming a major differentiator of workplaces
➤ How OpenAI collected so much data to train their model
Tyler Hochman is the Founder and CEO of FORE Enterprise, an AI workforce analytics platform that predicts which employees plan to leave their jobs and recommends strategies for retention. Hochman, who was recently acknowledged on Forbes 30 Under 30 list for social impact, and is at the forefront of AI innovation. Prior to founding FORE Enterprise, Tyler founded multiple consumer and B2B apps and companies, such as TH Analytics, VELLA, Modern Memoir, and SafeStop. Tyler holds a B.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford, with a focus on Data Science and Finance.
Follow him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-hochman-83b547130
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
Go to https://designof.ai to share your AI product recommendations and product ratings.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. https://designofai.substack.com/
Which products and services should we trust? How can brands earn our trust? As we enter the AI agentic era, we’re going to be faced with increasing concerns about trustworthiness. Our guest was described by John Maeda in 2024 as "the great mind of our time for services earning trust."
This is episode 29 and we’re discussing: Trust is a double-edged sword: How AI will Transform Services with Sarah Gold. We’re providing you with a roadmap for increasing the trust of your products & services:
➤ Importance of civic tech in delivering equitable services
➤ Responsibility to focus on helping people and human KPIs
➤ Principles for increasing trustworthiness
➤ Risk of over-relying on, and trusting services too much
➤ AI agents will change our relationship with services & each other
Sarah Gold is a digital leader with extensive experience in conceptualising, designing and building trustworthy, high stakes products and services with emerging technologies across private and public sectors.
Currently applying this expertise to build and grow Projects by IF, a specialist agency that she founded in London. IF helps clients, including the UK Government, Virgin Media O2 and Telus Health grow in new markets, and deepen existing relationships, through greater customer trust.
She advises the Mayor of London's Data for London programme, and the UK Design Council on digital. Her work on legibility of complex systems has won several awards, including Forbes 30 under 30 and The Observer's New Radical.
Follow her https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahtgold/
Find her work and resources https://www.projectsbyif.com/
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Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. https://designofai.substack.com/
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
We’re on a mission to collect examples of how you’re using AI to elevate how you work. Share your examples at https://designof.ai
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
How are the world’s largest brands leveraging AI? Where are they getting the greatest ROI? What are the biggest fears and barriers to adopting AI at scale? To answer these questions we invited one of the world’s leading AI consultants to explain what’s happening today and shifts he expects in the near future.
This is episode 27 and our guest is Jan Emmanuele, Director of Generative AI Consulting at Superside. We’re discussing implementing AI at-scale in creative teams and cover:
➤ Where businesses are getting the most value from AI
➤ GenAI’s ability to massively scale creative outputs
➤ Processes and strategies for implementing AI effectively
➤ Addressing the challenges and fears of leveraging AI
➤ AI’s adoption as a creative multiplier will surge in 2026
This episode is perfect for business, product, and design leaders who want to get details on how to best implement AI to augment and automate workflows.
Jan leads Superside’s AI Consulting department, working intimately with some of the leading companies - incl. several Fortune 500 companies - to integrate AI into their creative workflows. Prior, he was leading investments into AI startups at a venture capital fund and has 3 years experience as a McKinsey consultant working on tech and software topics. He also holds a PhD on AI for cancer treatment and developed AI solutions in a medical device company, including several patents.
Follow him and Superside:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-emmanuele-4a13a3118
Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Principal Strategist PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. We’ll also be announcing events soon too. https://designofai.substack.com/
What we design and how we design are changing because of AI. It’s happening faster than anyone could imagine. Our guest Sara Vienna has been designing a new relationship with AI and she’s been doing it for years ahead of others.
She is Chief Design Officer at Metalab, one of the top design consultancies in the world, she leads exceptional design talent who are leveraging AI to its fullest. Sara has shaped the technology landscape for some of the biggest brands in the world and tomorrow’s disruptors.
This is episode 26 and we’re discussing Designing a New Relationship with AI. This is the most important episode yet, because we discuss:
➤ Shifting our mindsets about AI, design, and value creation
➤ Just because something is faster doesn't mean it's of quality
➤ The great responsibility of designers to question our work
➤ Challenge yourself & experiment or you will get left behind
➤ Consumers will put money towards experiences that are valuable
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Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast.
We provide a pragmatic and practical deep dive into what AI can do and how it is transforming industries. We help designers, researchers, and product managers excel in a rapidly changing future.
If you find this strategic content helpful, make sure to follow us on your fave podcasting app. It really helps us if you leave reviews.
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As Chief Design Officer, Sara leads Metalab’s Research, Strategy, and Design to ship best-in-class products. Metalab, recently listed as one of Fast Company’s Design Companies of the Year, made its name designing for companies like Slack, Uber, Pitch, Instacart, and Headspace. The team continues to leave its mark across emerging startups and household names such as Suno, Midjourney, Nike, Pika, and The Atlantic.
Sara is also an advisor to Metalab's Venture Fund companies helping early-stage start-ups become the next unicorn. She lives on the island of Oahu, Hawaii with her family including two rescue fur babies.
Follow Sara and Metalab on Linkedinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/saraviennahttps://www.linkedin.com/company/metalab
@sravienna and @metalab on most other socials
And make sure to read her article which was the inspiration of this talk:https://www.metalab.com/blog/designing-new-relationship-with-ai
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This episode was hosted by:
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Head of product strategy, PH1 Research)https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Please make sure to subscribe to our Substack to never miss an episode. On the Design of AI substack you’ll also receive more strategic insights and recommended products. We’ll also be announcing events soon too. https://designofai.substack.com/
