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Mark is joined by Luke Wroblewski, product leader, author and one of the clearest voices in interface design.

This conversation explores where interface design is heading as AI systems become more agentic, more capable, and more embedded in everyday workflows. Luke shares why he has long believed the goal is not better screens or cleaner layouts, but making the interface fade into the background so people can focus on what they are actually trying to achieve.

Luke explains how this shift is already happening. The prompt box may still be there, but the number of human inputs is starting to shrink as agents gather context, coordinate work, and pass information between systems. That changes the role of the person from direct operator to higher-level orchestrator, and it changes what good product design now needs to solve.

Mark and Luke also dig into the challenges this creates for UX and product teams. They discuss capability awareness, context awareness, and the overload of reasoning traces and system output that current AI products still push onto people. They also explore why designers need to get much closer to production, why static handoff culture is breaking down, and why this may be a golden age for people who genuinely love building products.

Fun Point: Mark recorded this conversation at 4 am!

What’s discussed in this episode:

00:00 - Introduction & The Future of Interfaces

02:30 - Dissolving the UI & Humanizing Technology

05:00 - The Shift to Agentic Workflows

09:12 - Object-Oriented Design vs. Pixel Manipulation

11:13 - Evolving Inputs: Less Typing, Voice, and Foot Pedals

13:54 - UI Trust & The "Pets vs. Cattle" Analogy

18:45 - The Three Core Challenges of Prompt Interfaces

23:20 - Context Awareness & Real-Time Sources of Truth

31:00 - The Evolving Role of Designers

36:40 - The Golden Age & Rapid-Fire Questions

Luke Wroblewski - https://www.lukew.com/
Luke Wroblewski is a product leader, author and long time voice in interface design. His work has consistently focused on making technology feel more human and reducing the friction between what people want to do and the systems they use to do it.

UXI (UX Institute) Original Podcast 2026.
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In this episode of the UX Institute Podcast, Mark Swain speaks with Dan Saffer, designer, educator and a sharp voice on where AI product design is heading and where it is still falling short.

This conversation looks at the reality of using AI day to day, beyond the hype. Dan explains why so many AI products still feel like hard work, why the prompt box has become a lazy default interface, and how too much cognitive load is still being pushed back onto users. Rather than making products easier, many tools are still asking people to figure out the system for themselves.

Dan also shares how AI has become part of his own workflow, from research and writing support to building small tools for himself. But the conversation keeps returning to the bigger design question: if the models are already powerful, why does the experience of using them still feel clunky, tiring and unfinished?

Mark and Dan also explore what all of this means for designers, researchers and product managers. They unpack the rise of hybrid roles, the pressure on junior designers, the danger of letting AI do the thinking, and why understanding users, workflows and context may become even more valuable in the next few years.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why AI tools still create confusion for most users, even when the underlying models are impressive
• What is broken about the prompt box as the default interface for AI products
• Why chat and voice are useful for some tasks, but poor for detailed refinement work
• How better AI products may combine invisible automation, graphical controls and conversational input
• Why AI is increasing the intensity of work instead of simply making people more efficient
• What design teams risk losing when they hand too much thinking over to AI
• Why junior designers are facing new pressure as production tasks start to disappear
• How hybrid roles across design, product and engineering are starting to emerge
• Why the biggest opportunity in AI may now be better product design, not better models
  
  

Dan Saffer

Dan Saffer is a designer, educator and thought leader focused on emerging product design patterns, AI interfaces and the future of design practice. His work explores how new technologies reshape workflows, expectations and the role of designers inside product teams.

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In this episode of the UX Institute Podcast, I speak with Barry O’Reilly — author of Lean Enterprise and Unlearn, and co-founder of venture studio NobodyStudios — Barry joins us to talk about why he’s not chasing unicorns, and why “boring” AI businesses might be the smartest bet in the next decade.

Barry shares his journey from accidentally falling into programming in Dublin, Ireland to working on products such as Citysearch in the first dot-com wave, ThoughtWorks during the rise of Agile and Continuous Delivery, and finally into building a venture studio aiming to create 100 AI companies in five years. We dig into why most VC funds aren’t returning capital, why enterprise AI sales are a trap for early-stage startups, and how smart founders are using AI to build lean teams that still ship meaningful products.

We also get into why current AI UX has a long journey to go, how design will become the key differentiator on top of LLMs, and what product and UX teams might actually look like in 3–5 years.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Barry went from engineering student in Dublin to author, advisor, and venture studio founder
• Why Nobody Studios focuses on health, wellness, e-commerce, and EdTech for AI opportunities
• Why “boring” but proven business models are often better than hype-driven AI ideas
• How tools like Lovable and similar “one-person billion-dollar company” platforms are great for prototyping but dangerous for production
• The studio’s strategy of building companies cheaply and selling early, instead of chasing unicorns
• Red flags in AI startups: vanity metrics, no learning loops, brittle tech stacks, and vague “proprietary data”
• Why early-stage founders should avoid long enterprise sales cycles and niche down to a very specific use case
• How Barry uses his own AI stack (meeting copilots, scripts, automation) to dramatically increase personal and organisational productivity
• Why UX and product design on top of AI will likely be the biggest competitive advantage in the next 5–7 years
• How roles for designers and product managers may shift away from pushing pixels in Figma toward higher-level problem solving and LLM-powered workflows
  
  

Barry O’Reilly

Author of Lean Enterprise and Unlearn, entrepreneur, advisor, and co-founder at Nobody Studios, a venture studio on a mission to build 100 companies in 5 years.

• Barry’s books: Lean

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In this episode, we sit down with Mendigas from the Lovable product team — a non-traditional designer, community builder, and AI super-user who went from recruiting in Dublin to quietly influencing how thousands of creators build products today.

We unpack what the next 3–5 years will actually feel like for designers, UX researchers, PMs, and product builders in an AI-native world. From the death of traditional workflows, to why “playing daily” with AI tools is the best investment in your career, to how companies are rethinking hiring, prototyping, validation, and creativity, this conversation goes well beyond surface-level commentary.

Whether you’re excited, anxious, skeptical, or overwhelmed by the flood of AI tools — this is the grounded, deeply practical, and surprisingly energising conversation the design community needs right now.

In This Episode

• Mendigas’ non-traditional path from Dublin recruitment to becoming a community builder at InVision, On Deck, Koho — and now Lovable.
• How he used AI coding tools to turn a Sunday idea into a Thursday paying customer.
• Why AI-native workflows will replace 70% of today’s design toolchain.
• The decline of Figma for many real workflows — and why it’s become a “graveyard of pain.”
• Why non-technical creators will be the next wave of builders.
• What AI is actually good at today (and what it’s terrible at).
• The new shape of product roles: designers who think like PMs and build like engineers.
• What designers should slowly adopt, how to learn, and how to avoid the anxiety spiral.
• Why play, not pressure, is the single most important learning approach.
• How mid-60s taxi drivers and teenage app builders are already entering the AI wave.
• What the next UI paradigm might look like — and why design remains the superpower.
• The hard questions: Are we building only for ourselves? What happens to jobs? Who pays whom in an automated world?
  
  

Who This Episode Is For

• UX researchers wanting to evolve beyond documentation.
  Product designers feeling the pressure of an AI future.
• PMs exploring faster, AI-driven validation and prototyping loops.
• Founders wanting to ship faster with fewer technical bottlenecks.
• Designers craving clarity, direction, and grounded advice — not hype.
  
  

Why This Episode Matters

AI is no longer theoretical. Designers are already being hired specifically because they know how to build with AI. Non-technical creators are shipping production apps in hours. And legacy workflows are evaporating faster than most teams realise.

This conversation reframes the fear, cuts through the hype, and gives you the playbook, mindset, and realism needed to thrive — not just survive — in the next era of product creation.

Mindaugas Petrutis

Mindaugas Petrutis on Linkedin

Helping more people build things - now go make something lovable → http://lovable.dev

Working in a small team of serial founders, physicists, and ioi gold medalists who all care about building a great product and shipping fast, towards letting anyone create and maintain software – using plain English.

Team previously built the world's most popular open source codegen project (50k github stars).

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On this special episode, your usual host Mark Swaine, sits down as a guest on the Better Tech Leadership podcast to unpack some of the biggest shifts happening at the intersection of UX, product, and AI.

"Building software today isn’t hard — what’s hard is building the right thing, in the right way, at the right time." – Mark Swaine

Drawing from his years leading UX and product across SaaS, VC, and fintech, Mark offers a front-row view into the critical patterns he sees in early-stage startups — and how many of them are sleepwalking into avoidable mistakes.

This is a candid, insight-packed conversation for anyone working in product, UX, or early-stage tech.

· Learn why most startups have to "rebuild" after launch — and how better UX thinking upfront can save years of technical debt and budget waste.
· Understand the real role of UX in venture capital — and how Mark uses his product lens to evaluate whether a startup has what it takes.
· Discover why the future of design isn’t in pixels — it’s in prompts, strategy, and systems. Mark shares how AI is shifting the designer’s job from flow builder to strategic director.
· Hear what founders get wrong about AI — especially the common trap of confusing automation for true generative value.
· Get practical advice on building smarter roadmaps, aligning teams, and avoiding the trap of enterprise sales cycles that strangle growth.
· Explore what Ireland’s startup ecosystem needs next — and the urgent opportunities we’re missing to stay globally competitive.

Whether you’re a UX leader, founder, or future product director, this episode will change how you think about the road from design to delivery — and the mindset needed to lead through uncertainty.

Connect with Mark Swaine:
UX Institute: https://uxinstitute.com/
Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UX_UI_Guy

This episode was originally recorded on the Better Tech Leadership podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0M4r4dUW4tzN8L9FjNgvrK

The UX Institute Podcast is produced in partnership with Podlad.com

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Unlock the secrets of transforming user research into powerful customer insights with Serena Chan from Dovetail.

"There's no better feeling than after you've shared out a research report and then, months later, a stakeholder comes back and references it and says, 'Oh, remember that cool research you did? Wow, this is really relevant now." – Serena Chan

The San Francisco-based research advocate has witnessed and shaped the evolution of Dovetail from its early days as a diary studies tool to an AI-enhanced hub for understanding and actioning customer experiences. Serena shares her passion for synthesizing scattered data and involving key decision-makers to catalyze impactful organizational change.

Stay ahead of the curve as we navigate the intricate relationship between artificial intelligence and user experience. Serena invites us to approach the future with both curiosity and humility, discussing how Dovetail's AI features simplify the journey from data collection to insight discovery.

· Discover how Dovetail's transition from a diary studies tool to an AI-enhanced platform is revolutionizing the way UX designers approach qualitative analysis and extract thematic insights from user interviews.

· Learn from Serena's expertise on how to involve various team members, including non-researchers, in the UX research process to foster a customer-centric culture within organizations.

· Hear how AI is being used to simplify the journey from data collection to insight generation, ensuring that customer experiences are thoroughly understood and enhanced.

· The tangible impact of user research on driving organizational change, with practical examples like creating highlight reels that bring customer voices directly to decision-makers.

· Understanding the importance of humility and curiosity in the face of constant technological and customer need changes, and how to turn these insights into actionable opportunities.

· Learn How tools like Dovetail can help UX designers create empathy and buy-in from stakeholders by providing a vivid picture of customer pain points and needs through direct feedback.

· Strategies for communicating and embedding UX research insights within your organization, ensuring that the UX voice is integral to product direction and decision-making.

Serena provides fascinating insights into how technology is shaping the way we gather and interpret user feedback, ensuring that user experiences are not only understood but significantly enhanced. By the end of our conversation, you'll walk away with a fresh perspective on the synergy between advanced tools, a shared commitment to customer understanding, and the transformative potential of AI in the UX landscape.

Connect with Serena Chan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/serenaschan

Check Out Dovetail:
https://dovetail.com/

Connect with Mark and the UX Institute:
UX institute: https://uxinstitute.com/

Mark Swaine on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UX_UI_Guy

This podcast is produced in partnership with Podlad.com

UXI (UX Institute) Original Podcast 2025.
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The Evolution of Design in the Age of AI with Akshay Kore

In the latest episode of our podcast, we delve into the evolving landscape of design where artificial intelligence (AI) intersects with UX. Our distinguished guest, Akshay Kore, who has previously worked for Microsoft and is now Design Lead at Suki AI, shares his wisdom and insights drawn from his recent book, "Designing Human-Centric AI Experiences: Applied UX Design for Artificial Intelligence."

Kore's narrative underscores the crucial balance between leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies and maintaining a steadfast commitment to human-centric design principles. The episode promises to enlighten designers, product managers, and founders alike, providing them with strategies to avoid tech-first pitfalls and instead, utilize AI to enrich digital interactions meaningfully.

As generative AI reshapes the designer's toolkit, we examine the profound shift towards guiding these intelligent tools with precision and creativity. The commoditization of design systems is on the horizon, and with it comes a new role for designers—as directors who infuse AI with empathy and craft meaningful experiences. This episode peers into the future, spotlighting how empathy and deep user testing skills will continue to play a crucial role in an industry at the cusp of transformation.

"AI will be inevitable and important, and because it is going to be inevitable, it needs to be designed well, it needs to be built for people, and it also needs to be ethical and trustworthy for us to be able to use it well." – Akshay Kore

Key Learnings from the Episode:

· Discover how designers can align AI with human-centric design principles to create impactful user experiences.

· Learn why the commoditization of design systems is transforming designers into directors of AI rather than mere creators.

· Understand the significance of trust and reliability in AI systems, particularly in high-stakes user scenarios.

· Explore the potential of AI-driven workflows and how they may redefine the roles of designers and product managers.

· Uncover the skills designers need to hone to direct AI effectively, including prompt engineering and clear articulation.

· Reflect on the importance of empathy in design and how it will shape the future of UX in the age of AI.

· Gain insights into the ethical considerations and practical implications of integrating AI into the design process.

Buy Akshay Kore’s Book on Amazon:
Designing Human-Centric AI Experiences: Applied UX Design for Artificial Intelligence

Connect with Akshay Kore:
https://akor.in/
https://twitter.com/akshaykore
https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshaykkore

Connect with Mark and the UX Institute:
UX institute: https://uxinstitute.com/

Mark Swaine on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UX_UI_Guy

This podcast is produce

UXI (UX Institute) Original Podcast 2025.
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• AI's role in enhancing UX and product design workflows and user engagement.
• Refining data sets for better AI pattern recognition.
• Generative AI's use in dashboards and onboarding screens.
• The need for designers to trust and use AI effectively in their work.
• AI's role in task simplification and creating intuitive, personalized experiences.
• The importance of UX researchers staying updated on AI advancements for efficient workflows.

UXI (UX Institute) Original Podcast 2025.
www.uxinstitute.com