User Testing Using AI to Enhance Empathy in Design, Not Replace It

Taking a moment to think more carefully

Location: The Stafford, Mayfair, London

AI has changed the pace of how we work.

Ideas can be generated instantly. Prototypes come together quickly. Experiences can be personalised and shipped at a scale that wasn't possible event a few years ago. For many teams, speed is no longer the primary constraint.

We're producing more, but not always understanding more. We're moving faster, but not always with greater confidence. We're automating parts of the experience, but it's not always clear whether that leads to a deeper sense of empathy - or distance.

Customers haven't fundamentally changed. They still look for clarity. They still want to feel understood. They still want to make decisions without second-guessing themselves.

AI can help surface patterns and predict behaviour. But interpreting meaning - understanding why something matters - still depends on people. 

About the Evening:

This is a small, informal dinner designed to create space for a more open kind of conversation. 

There won't be presentations or product walkthroughs. Instead, the evening is shaped around discussion - bringing together people across design, product, and marketing who are all working through similar questions in their own organisations. 

It's an opportunity to step outside of delivery cycles and talk more candidly about what's changing, what feels uncertain and where we're seeing real progress.

The Theme's We'll Explore:

The conversation will centre on how teams are navigating the balance between speed and understanding.

Some of the areas we'll likely explore include:

• How teams are validating concepts and prototypes using large, global participant networks.
• What it means to receive customer feedback within hours - and how that changes decision-making.
• The role AI plays in surfacing insights and reducing the need for manual analysis.
• How emerging integrations are making research more accessible within everyday tools and workflows.
• Where speed is genuinely helping, and where it may be creating blind spots.

At the core of it all is a shared questions: How do we ensure empathy remains intentional, even as more of the process becomes automated?

Register your interest below!

The group will be kept intentionally small to allow for a more thoughtful and balanced conversation. 

If you're interested in taking part, you can register your interest below.