AS Awkward Silences

Podcast

Awkward Silences

Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and Carol Guest, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews. Take this survey and let us know what topics you want to hear next! userinterviews.com/awkwardsurvey

Website ↗ Last published 27 October 2026 200 posts collected by Sputnik

Said on Awkward Silences

“When I was playing with one of the early synthesized research products, I asked it for women who had participated in the moon landings and were now in the middle of their careers. And it just fabricated a bunch of 45-year-old women who had walked on the moon.” — Mike Mace, Awkward Silences
Mike Mace · 27 Oct 2026 Listen →
“We've actually been really pleasantly surprised that ironically, we had to get all the way to synthetic users to get our leaders super interested in real human customer data.” — John Whalen, Awkward Silences
John Whalen · 27 Oct 2026 Listen →
“AI wants to be a pleaser. It doesn't want to overwhelm you. It doesn't have any stakes in the consequences. It wants to speak confidently. And that's where hallucinations sometimes come in.” — Sal Criscione, Awkward Silences
Sal Criscione · 20 Oct 2026 Listen →

Hosts

Awkward Silences is hosted by Erin May , John-Henry Forster , Carol Guest , Ben Wiedmaier and JH Forster .

Recent Episodes

  1. 27 Oct 2026

    #193 - Can synthetic research replace real users? That's the wrong question.

    With John Whalen , Mike Mace and Lija Hogan

  2. 20 Oct 2026

    #193 - AI won't make you a better UX researcher unless you do the hard work

    With Sal Criscione

  3. 1 Jul 2026

    #192 - Slowing Things Down to Speed Up Research with Jared Forney of Okta

    With Jared Forney

  4. 9 Jun 2026

    #191 - Throwback: UX Lessons from a Decade Researching AI with Jess Holbrook of Microsoft

    With Jess Holbrook

  5. 26 May 2026

    #190 - How to Navigate the Constant Change in UX Research with Learners CEO Alec Levin

    With Alec Levin

  6. 12 May 2026

    #189 - Throwback: Quantifying Research Impact with Ruby Pryor of Rex

    With Ruby Pryor

  7. 28 Apr 2026

    #188 - Why AI Can't Replace Qualitative Research with Sam Ladner of Workday

    With Sam Ladner

  8. 14 Apr 2026

    #187 - Throwback: Harnessing AI For Better Insights with George Whitfield of MIT and Google

    With George Whitfield

  9. 31 Mar 2026

    #186 - Positioning Your Portfolio for AI Skills with Aneta Kmiecik of Be Your Own Design Team

    With Aneta Kmiecik

  10. 17 Mar 2026

    #185 - How to Use AI Without Losing Your Research Soul with Nikki Anderson of Drop in Research

    With Nikki Anderson and Nikki Anderson-Stanie

  11. 3 Mar 2026

    #184 - Use Context For More Influence with Kristen DeLap of Econify

    With Kristen DeLap

  12. 17 Feb 2026

    #183 - The Best Ways to Use AI in UX Research with Laura Klein of NN/g

    With Laura Klein

Guests

Kate Towsey (8 episodes), Roberta Dombrowski (8 episodes), Basel Fakhoury (3 episodes), Andrea Amorós (2 episodes), Eniola Abioye (2 episodes), Amy Chess, PhD (2 episodes), Alec Levin (2 episodes), Maria Rosala (2 episodes), Varun Murugesan (2 episodes), Nikki Anderson-Stanie (2 episodes), Erika Hall (2 episodes), Jess Holbrook (2 episodes), and 184 more.