AI, Product and Design Podcast · 2026-03-31 · 47 min
Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the UX Institute Podcast, Mark Swain speaks with Dan Saffer, designer, educator and a sharp voice on where AI product design is heading and where it is still falling short. This conversation looks at the reality of using AI day to day, beyond the hype. Dan explains why so many AI products still feel like hard work, why the prompt box has become a lazy default interface, and how too much cognitive load is still being pushed back onto users. Rather than making products easier, many tools are still asking people to figure out the system for themselves. Dan also shares how AI has become part of his own workflow, from research and writing support to building small tools for himself. But the conversation keeps returning to the bigger design question: if the models are already powerful, why does the experience of using them still feel clunky, tiring and unfinished? Mark and Dan also explore what all of this means for designers, researchers and product managers.
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