Reflecting on the R&I Stage at AIBA 2025: Designing AI With (Not Just For), the World

Curated by intO, the R&I Stage at this year’s AIBA Conference brought together an extraordinary lineup of UX researchers, product leaders, and design strategists who are rethinking how we build AI – not just as a tool, but as a collaborator.

Across two days of talks, panels and audience Q&As, we dug deep into what it means to centre human context in artificial intelligence. From trust and localisation to agentic design and the evolving role of researchers, our global guests delivered real insight from the frontier of AI development.

Whether they hailed from Microsoft, Uber, Meta, Amazon, Booking.com or grassroots research communities like AmsterdamUX, every speaker offered a powerful takeaway: to make AI genuinely useful, we must first make it deeply human.

Here’s a round-up of the R&I stage sessions – and also some pictures that sum up the energy of a very special few days, spent with a bunch of incredibly inspiring folk.

If you feel sorry that you missed it, you can still access all talks and panel sessions by purchasing an online ticket (149zł , which converts to around £31)

Designing With the World in Mind

Laetitia Sfez from Studio intO opened the conference at the R&I stage by asking a fundamental question: “Who is AI being designed for, and who gets left out?” Drawing from intO’s global fieldwork, she introduced the Equitable AI Framework, a practical guide to embedding inclusion at every step of the product process. Linguistic nuance, accessibility standards, and regional realities are not edge cases, they are the design brief. Learn more about intO’s award-winning Equitable AI Framework here.

Real Talk From Real Communities

Kris Smirnova, of AmsterdamUX, grounded us in the realities of AI experimentation. Her research surfaced honest feedback from professionals trialling AI tools across the user research process. The verdict? There are real gains to be made, but also critical gaps in quality, control and ethics. A timely reminder that tech needs testing, and researchers need trust.

Depika Koria, from Women in Innovation UK, spoke from her experienced perspective of working in regulated industries, and argued passionately that “thinking human” is both a responsibility and a business advantage. As industries face growing oversight, inclusive, clear and compelling brand and product design isn’t just nice-to-have, it’s essential infrastructure.

Philip Bonhard of Lloyds Banking Group showed how AI is reshaping life’s big decisions. His talk introduced the concept of “agentic banking”, where AI handles the complexity, and customers reclaim time and clarity in the mortgage process.

Reimagining the Financial Future

💡 Katherine Corneilson and Aga Rześniowiecka, researchers at Wise, asked what happens when customers turn to ChatGPT for financial advice. Their session shared how Futures Thinking is helping Wise anticipate user behaviour and design smarter, AI-aware services that keep humans in control.

🧳 Urszula Lewicka, from Booking.com, reminded us that in travel—perhaps more than anywhere—trust is currency. Her talk laid out how emotional resonance, empathy, and accountability must be coded into AI systems, especially when stakes are high and contexts are personal.

Panel + Provocations: Designing AI for Borderless Business

The first day on the R&I Stage closed with a high-energy, high-honesty panel led by Joanna Brassett, CEO of Studio intO. Joined by speakers from across the day, the conversation tackled what it really takes to design AI that works across borders — practically, ethically, and culturally.

Themes ranged from the dangers of default datasets, to the changing role of UX researchers in AI-driven teams, to how trust is built (or broken) at global scale. Provocations flew, laughter bubbled up, and the audience brought their own sharp questions to the mix.

One thing became clear: creating globally relevant AI isn’t about adding localisation as a layer — it’s about embedding equity, inclusion and contextual insight from the very start.

This session captured the essence of the R&I Stage: curious minds, open dialogue, and a shared commitment to designing AI that reflects the people it’s meant to serve.

Designing the Next Wave

Day 2 kicked off with Prudence Djajadi from Uber, who shared a fresh perspective on the tension between automation and intuition. As researchers increasingly use AI in their work, she called for greater confidence in our human judgement – and reminded us that rigour still matters.

Then came Tzvika Besor of Sola Security, who threw a curveball: has “vibe coding” made UX research obsolete? (Spoiler: no, but it has raised the stakes.) His energetic talk challenged teams to define what value human researchers bring when users can build through language alone.

From there, we welcomed Marcos Nunes-Ueno of Meta, who joined the R&I Stage fresh from the main auditorium to expand on his concept of AI as creative provocation. He described how UX teams at Meta are evolving from fact-finders into framework builders—designing not just products, but mindsets for how AI is used.

Meaningful Interactions, Measurable Impact

Two research leaders from Microsoft – Joan Jasak and Max Peterschmidt – joined Chloe Amos-Edkins, after their auditorium keynote, for a lively Q&A on redefining “human-centred design” in agentic systems. Their work is helping Microsoft AI teams navigate the complexity of global workforce needs with clarity and care.

Kyle Sandburg of Amazon added his voice to the conversation with a framework for UX Context Design; a method that embeds research and evaluation directly into AI workflows. His talk made a compelling case: the quality of AI outputs is only as strong as the context we feed them.

Beyond the Default: A Global Fireside

One of the most powerful moments of the festival came when Tzvika Besor sat down with intO’s Joanna Brassett, Chloe Amos-Edkins, and Laetitia Sfez to ask: What happens when AI forgets the world is not one-size-fits-all? Their session challenged the industry to ditch generic defaults and build for the margins first. A powerful call to think globally, act locally, and design with foresight.

Signals + Speculations: Where We’re Headed Next

To close the R&I Stage, Chloe led a bold panel that gathered voices from across the day’s sessions. From new research roles to product localisation, future AI skills to fresh UX strategies, the group surfaced signals of what’s shifting – and how to stay ahead of it.

The Takeaway?

AI doesn’t eliminate the need for research. It amplifies it.

Context is no longer a “nice to have” – it’s mission critical. And the R&I Stage proved that the teams best positioned to lead in AI are those who start from the margins, ask better questions, and build with care.

Here’s to a more equitable, global, and insight-rich AI future.

As we wrap up this year’s AIBA Festival, our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who made it such a powerful, thought‑provoking experience — our brilliant cohort of speakers for sharing their insight and imagination, the main organisers at the Silesian Startup Foundation for their vision and dedication, and our partners at Cloudyna for their collaboration and energy throughout. A special thank you also goes to Event Shooters, whose stunning photography captured the spirit, connection, and creativity of the week so perfectly.

Here’s to another year of designing AI with humanity at its heart — and to seeing many of you again at AIBA 2026.

Get in touch with intO’s Marketing Director, Clare Rees, to learn more about AIBA 2026

[email protected]

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