What happens when a cognitive psychologist turned UX researcher brings a critical eye to AI? Dr. Llewyn Paine shares her unique perspective at the intersection of emerging technology and user research. With experience spanning neuromarketing, 3D television, and mixed reality, Llewyn has seen the hype cycles come and go—and learned to spot the gap between promise and practical value.

Llewyn and Lou explore the parallels between now-defunct technologies and today’s AI surge, noting how often new tools are overmarketed before their implications are truly understood. Llewyn urges researchers to engage with AI not as passive users but as experimenters: to test, retest, document, and analyze like scientists. Her recent workshop revealed how even identical prompts to the same model can yield wildly different results—an important reminder that AI is non-deterministic and context-sensitive.

Llewyn also shares a behind-the-scenes look at curating the Designing with AI 2025 conference, built around both the realities of today and the creative possibilities of tomorrow. She reminds us that critical thinking, experimentation, and thoughtful documentation are the UX research community’s superpowers in this unpredictable AI era.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

• Why Llewyn’s background in cognitive psychology shapes her skepticism toward overhyped tech
• How past experiences with neuromarketing and 3D TV inform her approach to AI in UX
• What it means to treat AI prompts and outputs as experimental variables—not deterministic tools
• Why researchers should go straight to the models (not third-party tools) when exploring AI
• How variability in AI output challenges assumptions about accuracy and reproducibility
• What the Designing with AI 2025 conference reveals about balancing realism and creativity in tech adoption

Quick Reference Guide:

0:09 – Introduction of Llewyn and her journey as a UX researcher
5:25 – The limits and over-selling of neuro marketing
8:42 – A critique of AI as an analysis tool
11:55 – An experiment with AI
15:45 – A process to add consistency to working and researching with AI tools
17:21 – “Why Johnny Can’t Prompt”
19:09 – Why you should use the Rosenverse
21:24 – The upcoming Designing with AI conference
25:38 – The structure and panels of the conference
28:55 – Llewyn’s gift for listeners