Most people using AI are making a critical mistake.
Not in how they use it. In where they shouldn’t.
Leo Hoar, PhD calls this the difference between using AI and thinking with AI. And it sounds like a small distinction until you realize what it actually means for your work.
Every research decision you make is a series of micro-decisions happening underneath the surface. Which questions to ask. Which signals to trust. Which gaps to investigate and which ones to let go. Most people hand all of that to AI without a second thought.
That’s where things start breaking. Not at the end when the insights land wrong. At the beginning, before you even knew there was a problem.
Bad research doesn’t announce itself. It compounds quietly. By the time you see it, it’s already in the product.
Leo has spent his career at the intersection of research rigour and real-world practice, from Samsung to building UXR Institute from the ground up because the advanced education this industry needed simply didn’t exist. He sees this mistake everywhere. Senior researchers. Experienced teams. People who know better.
And he’s unpacking all of it at UXCON26.
One day. October 8th. Silver Spring Civic Center, Maryland. A room full of practitioners who care enough about getting this right to show up in person and wrestle with the hard questions together.
If reading this made you uncomfortable, that’s the point. It means you need to be in that room.
CANT WAIT? JOIN US FOR A 4-Hour Reality Check That Actually Helps
Look, you can read another article about AI and upskilling and feel motivated for 20 minutes before going back to scrolling LinkedIn and wondering why your applications go nowhere.
Or you can spend four hours in a room with people who are actually doing something about it.
July 23, 2025 · 12:00–4:00 PM Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza 1 Veterans Pl, Silver Spring, MD 20910
This isn’t a talk. You’re not sitting there listening to someone pontificate about the future of work. You’re working, on your actual resume, your actual positioning, your actual next move, with AI tools, with real feedback, with people who do this professionally.
You walk in unclear. You walk out with something finished. A resume that’s actually competitive. A pitch that lands. A clearer sense of where you fit in this new economy.
No theory. No “10 trends to watch in 2026.” Just practical work on your real stuff with people who are serious about their next move.
July 23, 2025 · 12:00–4:00 PM
Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza
1 Veterans Pl, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Four hours. Real work. Real results. That’s it.
