Amit Popat built a beautiful AI product that nobody bought. Then he sat in a hotel watching managers use whiteboards to make pricing decisions in 2019. That's when everything changed.From Cambridge math to building EasyJet's personalization engine to leading AI/ML at Cloudbeds, Amit has learned the hard way that cool technology doesn't win—solving real problems does. We dive into his own Alexa fail, why 1970s Paris Metro machines beat modern UX, and why tinkering and curiosity aren't optional in an AI-accelerated world.If you're building AI products or wondering how UX translates to this new landscape, this conversation will ground you in what actually matters: proximity to real problems beats assumptions every time.

Dan Zola (1,000+ user interviews, Google) on what changes with AI research tools—and what doesn't. Body language, organizational trust, and knowing which follow-up question matters most. The skills worth investing in now.

AI can analyze thousands of user interviews in seconds. So what's left for human UX researchers?

Miwako Zosel explains why she's learning SQL and Python, where AI actually helps research (and where it dangerously fails), and why "research is glue"—the most human skill in UX.

For researchers wondering if their career has a future: this is your episode.

Guest: Miwako Zosel, UX Researcher at SmartBear