Designing AI products | Vitaly Friedman | #72

<p>Vitaly, the UX lead with the European Parliament and co-founder of Smashing Magazine, reflects on the messy reality of designing AI products and why UX matters more than ever in the age of artificial intelligence and AI agents. He also explores how and why many companies rush into implementing AI without addressing issues in their processes and systems and discusses the importance of trust, transparency, and guidance in designing AI products. </p><p><br /></p><p>👉 <em>If you have any tips on fantastic speakers from across the globe, feedback, or any questions, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to geekspodcast@uxtweak.com</em></p><p><br /></p><p><strong>🔎 Do you want to know more? Check out this episode at:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.uxtweak.com/podcast/bansi-mehta-legacy-systems/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.uxtweak.com/podcast/</a>vitaly-friedman-designing-ai-products</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Episode highlights</strong></p><p>00:01:56 - The confusing reality of 2026 </p><p>00:03:54 - What are we doing with AI? </p><p>00:06:28 - Prompting and user experience</p><p>00:09:56 - AI is the next Internet</p><p>00:13:52 - Current state of AI </p><p>00:17:57 - The main problem with designing AI products </p><p>00:23:44 - How AI amplifies structural and data issues </p><p>00:31:12 - Final advice from Vitaly </p><p><br /></p><p><strong>About our guest </strong></p><p>Vitaly loves beautiful content and does not give up easily. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he studied computer science and mathematics in Germany. While writing algebra proofs and preparing for software engineering at nights in the kitchen, at the same time he discovered passion for typography, interface design and writing. </p><p><br /></p><p>After working as a freelance designer and developer for 6 years, he co-founded Smashing Magazine back in 2006, a leading online magazine for designers and developers. His curiosity drove him from interface design to front-end to performance optimization to accessibility and back to user experience over all the years.</p><p><br /></p><p>Vitaly is the author, co-author and editor of Smashing Books , and a curator of Smashing Conferences. He is the UX lead with the European Parliament and Smashing Magazine and front-end/UX consultant in Europe and abroad, working with large and small companies and organizations like Haufe-Lexware, Axel-Springer and others.</p><p><br /></p><p>He also runs Measure UX and Smart Interface Design