Still in the Loop: Leading with Human-Centered Design in the Age of AI

Location

140 St. George St., Bissell Building, 4th floor, Hybrid

Date

21/11/2025

Time

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Generative AI is rewriting the product development playbook. The unprecedented pace of frontier large language model (LLM) development is resulting in solutions unlocking new problem spaces across a broad range of use cases and domains. This dynamic disrupts the traditional human-centered design sequence, where solutions are developed in response to established customer needs. Simultaneously, the adoption of generative AI tools into everyday workflows is blurring established role boundaries, expectations, and organizational power dynamics.

In this talk, Dr. Stefanie Hutka will share a framework and tools from her forthcoming book, Designing Automated Futures, to help practitioners navigate – and thrive – in this evolving AI landscape. This talk provides practical guidance for students preparing to enter industry and for faculty supporting their students’ professional readiness. Attendees will gain concrete approaches for deciding what and when to automate with AI, and for guiding teams in connecting technical capabilities with human needs and contexts.

Speaker: Dr. Stefanie (Stef) Hutka

Dr. Stefanie (Stef) Hutka helps teams bring useful, usable AI, XR, and robotics products to market. She is the founder of Sendfull, a boutique consultancy for emerging technology teams. Previously, Stef led design research and strategy for 0-to-1 product launches at Adobe, Meta, and DAQRI.

Stef also teaches UX and systems thinking at UC Berkeley, and is the author of the forthcoming book, Designing Automated Futures, on how to design automated systems that keep humans at the center (Rosenfeld Media, Spring 2026). She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Toronto, focused on cognitive neuroscience.