This week's UXD <> AI round up

4️⃣ UXD <> AI news stories

• New UX pattern libraries are training AI on real accessibility debt.

• Designers are embedding AI co-pilots directly into product UI.

• Google announces new “Vibe coding” & design tool: Stitch.

• Simulated User Testing with AI: UXAgent.

4️⃣ Upcoming noteworthy events

• Databrick’s AI summit: free for virtual attendees: June 9 - 12

• Designing with AI 2025 Aligning the potential of AI with the humanism of UX, virtual conference: June 10 - 11

• Free event with Microsoft’s Chief Scientist and Scott Galloway on “What AI means for the future of work”: June 12

• SHIFT, a 3-day, hands-on bootcamp for the whole product team who want to collaborate better, work smarter and understanding where AI fits in: June 16 - 18

1️⃣ Helpful AI tool for UXD

• Uizard’s AI sketch-to-mockup tool is great for speedy first passes, especially if you’re solo or in a sprint.

1️⃣ UXD prompt of the week

• 🎯 Prompt of the week: “What unintended signals could this interface send to users in a high-pressure or unfamiliar environment?”

4️⃣ UXD <> AI news stories

New UX pattern libraries are training AI on real accessibility debt.

A handful of design teams are starting to train AI tools not just on visual UI, but on real-world accessibility issues. That means smarter linting, better contrast suggestions, and actual help fixing complex flows especially in enterprise products. Tools like Able.ai and the open-source effort behind a11yGPT.

As an accessibility advocate who understands the difficulty teams have with prioritizing accessibility, this is super cool and exciting! I hope that AI tools like this will enable the web becomes more open to all.

Designers are embedding AI co-pilots directly into product UI.

Not just “AI as a tool for design” but AI as a feature inside the products we build. Teams are now prototyping embedded copilots in dashboards, onboarding flows, and documentation layers. The design decisions here (what to suggest, what to automate, what to leave alone) are ethical ones, not just UI.

I’ve had a few experiences online over the past couple weeks when I wasn’t sure if I was talking to AI or a real person. This is something to consider by the entire product team - and especially the designer and PM - about how to keep trust high and reassure users if they’re talking to a real person. This article on AI Copilot Design explores essential UI/UX considerations for integrating AI copilots into applications. 

Google announces new “Vibe coding” & design tool: Stitch.

This week at I/O Google announced a new very much in beta “Vibe coding” platform called Stitch. It’s free to use and worth a look.

Simulated User Testing with AI: UXAgent.

UXAgent is a system designed to simulate usability testing of web designs using LLM agents. It allows UX researchers to evaluate and iterate their usability testing study designs before conducting real human-subject studies. The system features modules for persona generation, LLM agents, and browser interaction, providing both qualitative and quantitative data for analysis.

A founder who used it said “a way to skip research and get directional insight.”. Meh, those who have done plenty of user testing know that’s not accurate. And this is topic that will undoubtably come up again. UXR has been the first thing to be cut and it’s the most important.

4️⃣ Upcoming noteworthy events

Databrick’s AI summit: free for virtual attendees: June 9 - 12

This one’s not designed for UXD or UXR, but it’s still worth checking out since it’s free. Databricks is hosting their annual AI summit, and while the focus is heavily engineering/data-centric, talks on LLM optimization, retrieval-augmented generation, and production use cases may help UXers better understand what’s under the hood of the systems we’re designing and using.

🔗 Free virtual registration

Designing with AI 2025 Aligning the potential of AI with the humanism of UX, virtual conference: June 10 - 11

This two-day virtual event hosted by Rosenfeld Media will jump into the evolving intersection of design and artificial intelligence. The conference features expert-led case studies, panels, and networking opportunities aimed at UX professionals exploring the applications and implications of AI in the design industry. Leading voices in the field, including Ovetta Sampson, Matt Webb, Aras Bilgen, and more. There’s workshops and like designing for AI systems and UXR paired with AI. It looks pretty interesting.

🔗 Registration link

Free event with Microsoft’s Chief Scientist and Scott Galloway on “AI and the future of work”: June 12

Although not directly UXD this event looks interesting for designers and it’s free. Registration is required and spots will fill up quickly.

🔗 Registration link

SHIFT, a 3-day, hands-on bootcamp for the whole product team who want to collaborate better, work smarter and understanding where AI fits in: June 16 - 18

This event was designed with product teams in mind of the specific challenges they face with communication, collaboration, storytelling and how that all is rooted in not having a complete picture of the problem.

You’ll learn:

• How to use AI to scope, synthesize, and communicate with clarity

• How to run stronger workshops or be a better participant, and align faster with cross-functional teams

• How to shift your role from executor to leader on your team without burning out

🔗 Registration link

1️⃣ Helpful AI tool for UXD

Uizard’s AI sketch-to-mockup tool is great for speedy first passes.

This is so sweet! These software tools we use are an obvious and critical part of our process. The best tool we have though is pen and paper to generate as many ideas as possible and also to have a connection in the physical world. Uizard has put together a great tool and this will definitely become part of my workflow.

1️⃣ Prompt of the week

🎯 Prompt of the week: “What unintended signals could this interface send to users in a high-pressure or unfamiliar environment?”

This is a great prompt that will move some mountains when the team is too close to one or two siloed problems. Let’s expand our thinking everyone!

That’s it for now. Have a great holiday! Linda ✨