My UX Talk in Paris: “How to redefine yourself in the AI era?”

9 Dec 24

A look back on the UX talk I gave at the Orangerie d’Auteuil in Paris! In September 2023, I was lucky enough to be selected to speak at the UX Conf’ in Paris organized by UX Republic France. UX Conf’ is a day of synergies and sharing for digital decision-makers, specialists and enthusiasts. The first edition of the UX-Conf brought together over 600 participants around the theme “Human First”.

Why did I have to speak up?

Well… as an experimented UX Resaercher and Designer, AI marked a real turning point in my UX career. After going through phases of skepticism, excitement, contemplation and fear, I finally asked myself “will AI one day replace all designers?”.

For months, I tested new tools that were as exciting as they were worrying… and then I got to the heart of the matter. If an AI can do the same thing as me, what’s my added value in my job?

In this talk, I shared my thoughts on the question and how I’ve rebuilt my position. I invited everyone to challenge their beliefs on this subject by asking themselves some profound questions.

Somewhere between philosophy, innovation and professional development, this talk is designed to open up debate on topical issues from which we can no longer escape.

What was the talk about?

During this conference I went from AI to Socrates in 30 minutes, but I assure you, there is a relationship between the two elements…

For those who weren’t lucky enough to attend the UX Conf, here are 5 takeaways we could discuss for hours:

Never make the mistake of believing that what has made you successful so far, will necessarily make you successful in the future.
Challenging the status quo is not just a personal challenge, it’s also a challenge for companies wishing to innovate.
Designers, position yourselves as “Problem-finder” rather than “Problem-solver”, because finding insights and defining the problem are part of your job.
User research without user involvement is not research. ChatGPT can’t replace field research and magically create relevant User Persona. Be careful how you use the tools that save you time and effort.
Keep Human First in everything you do! Remember Socrates: Reason is the universally good guide to human action. What makes us different from a machine? Why do we entrust certain tasks to AIs rather than others? Always ask yourself “why”…

I’d like to thank everyone who came to this event, it was a pleasure to meet and talk with you all.

Thanks also to Nadege Bide for the super cool sketch she drew, which sums up the conference perfectly. I’m sharing it just below.