IDEO U 46d ago

Ready to build your human-centered AI research skills? Explore IDEO U AI courses → https://www.ideou.com/collections/ai-courses In this Q&A session from IDEO U's Creative Confidence Podcast, host Mina Seetharaman is joined by Angela Kochoska, Design Researcher and Data Scientist at IDEO, to answer listener questions about using AI in human-centered research. Angela brings a rare combination of perspectives: she spent years building machine learning models for NASA and the European Space Agency before becoming a design researcher at IDEO. She knows how these models actually work and where they fall short. This session goes beyond the basics to tackle the harder questions researchers are asking: how to tell a real insight from an AI-generated pattern, how to stop AI from flattening nuance, what good prompting looks like in practice, and how to know when you've stopped thinking and started outsourcing. Key Takeaways AI generates patterns, humans make meaning. Treating those two things as interchangeable is where research goes flat, and knowing the difference is the foundation of good AI-assisted synthesis. Nuance isn't something AI withholds. It's something you have to actively prompt for, with the right amount of context and the patience to iterate. The clearest sign you've outsourced your thinking to AI is that you can no longer explain what you learned. Staying articulate keeps you in the process and keeps your research valuable. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & introduction 1:29 Angela's background: from NASA sky surveys to design research at IDEO 6:19 What building the course with Hannah Rosenfeld unlocked 12:40 Q&A: How do you tell a real insight from an AI-generated pattern? 15:33 Q&A: How do you stop AI from flattening nuance? 21:59 Q&A: Is it self-serving to say AI makes humans more important? 25:31 Q&A: How do you know when you've outsourced your thinking to AI? 31:34 Q&A: What does good prompting look like in a research context? 33:57 Q&A: How do you move from AI-generated insights to human-centered decisions? 44:13 Q&A: What AI tools do researchers actually use? 51:03 Q&A: How do you protect the depth and specificity that makes research valuable? 56:29 Q&A: How do you show AI's value to a skeptical organization? 1:02:52 Lightning round Helpful Links Read the recap of this episode: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/ai-tools-for-researchers-patterns-vs-insights-and-when-to-trust-ai-output-q-a-with-ideo-data-scientist-angela-kochoska IDEO U Course — Human-Centered Research with AI: https://www.ideou.com/products/human-centered-research-ai Additional IDEO U Resources on AI: https://www.ideou.com/pages/ai-design-thinking-programs Watch Hannah Rosenfeld's episode: https://youtu.be/D_U0oDOAljc?si=AC2xO-2kLZvODEH2 Follow IDEO U on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideo-u/ IDEO U's Creative Confidence Podcast: https://www.ideou.com/pages/creative-confidence-podcast