On September 29, 2026, the German UPA webinar “Using AI mindfully – here’s how” explored how we can use artificial intelligence in UX work without handing over our critical thinking and professional judgment. Our UX researchers Britta Karn and Alessandra Rodrigues Eismann examined this question from a psychological perspective.
Drawing on current research, the webinar examined what is known about AI’s effects on how we think and experience the world and where the evidence is still limited. It focused on three psychological phenomena that help us better understand the opportunities and risks of using AI.
Delegating mental tasks to tools such as AI is known as cognitive offloading. This can reduce our workload and free up capacity for other tasks, but it becomes problematic when we accept the results without thinking them through ourselves. Closely related is automation bias, which occurs when we place too much trust in automated suggestions. We may then fail to question them sufficiently even when there are signs of errors.
When AI takes over certain tasks on an ongoing basis and we rarely practise them ourselves, the skills we need for those tasks can decline over time. This risk is known as deskilling. In UX work in particular, it is therefore worth consciously deciding where AI should assist us and where we should analyse, weigh options and exercise judgment ourselves.
The webinar also presented practical strategies that can help us integrate AI consciously and thoughtfully into our day-to-day UX work. When we design experiences for people, we still need our critical thinking and sound judgment, even when AI takes on some of the work.
About 30 people attended the webinar. Feedback from the German UPA’s follow-up survey was also positive: participants particularly valued the research-based overview with sources, the practical strategies and the clear examples. They also noted that the content connected well to everyday UX work and that the speakers discussed the topic openly and on an equal footing.
German UPA members can watch the webinar recording in the German UPA media library.