Design of AI | Build Products that Customers & Businesses Value

2026 will reward AI products that get three things right: trust, cost, and orchestration. This episode looks ahead at how those forces are reshaping AI product strategy—and what teams need to pay attention to now.
Brittany and Arpy are joined by Yaddy Arroyo, who has spent a decade designing multimodal AI systems in financial services, where reliability and governance are table stakes. She's also been one of the key community builders amongst the design community who are leaders within AI orgs.
Together, they reflect on what the last two years of AI adoption revealed and how those lessons are directly informing decisions teams are making in 2026.

Why trust now shapes AI product success
Orchestration matters more than prompting
Token costs quietly reshape UX decisions
When small models outperform large ones
How AI design roles must evolve in 2026

Episode chapters
01:21 Reflecting on Two Years of AI Adoption
02:52 The Rise of Copilot and AI's Impact on Creativity
03:37 Challenges and Concerns with AI Safety
04:24 Designing AI for Human-Centric Use Cases
04:53 Meta's Investment and Intelligence as a Service
09:25 Hallucinations and the Reliability of LLMs
11:14 The Business Value and Limitations of Gen AI
18:55 Founders and the Rush to Monetize AI
19:25 Token Optimization and UX Challenges
21:31 Personalizing AI Interactions
21:48 Challenges in AI Adoption
22:27 PH One's AI Solutions
22:53 The Orchestration Problem
24:22 AI's Role in Everyday Tasks
26:08 AI in UX and Design
27:55 Future of AI and Small Language Models
30:35 Human in the Loop and UI Generators
37:35 Accountability and AI's Future
42:39 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

The conversation connects early generative AI optimism with today’s realities—probabilistic systems, rising costs, and scaling pressure—and surfaces where momentum is building, from smaller models to on-device intelligence.
This episode also marks Episode 50 of Design of AI and two years of conversations with builders, researchers, and leaders shaping AI-powered products—follow the podcast to stay ahead as this next phase unfolds
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About PH1
The Design of AI podcast is brought to you by PH1, an AI strategy consultancy. PH1 has worked with the biggest corporations in tech to redefine CX in the era of AI through strategic research, prototyping, and aligning product to power. Visit ph1.ca to ask about your project.

Go Deeper
For deeper, unfiltered thinking on AI strategy, governance, and product decisions, our Substack (https://designofai.substack.com) is the best place to follow our work. It’s where we go beyond the episodes—breaking down what’s actually changing, what’s overhyped, and what leaders should do next.

Connect with the Hosts
Contact Arpy if you’re navigating AI product strategy, platform architecture, orchestration, or high-stakes system decisions that need to scale.

Contact Brittany if you need clarity on AI UX, research, service design, or evaluating whether an AI product is actually delivering value for users.

If you’re building your product on private large language models, you are outsourcing control of your business—your data, your roadmap, and your long‑term defensibility—to companies whose incentives do not align with yours.
Ovetta Sampson is a tech industry leader who has spent more than a decade leading engineers, designers, and researchers across some of the most influential organizations in technology, including Google, Microsoft, IDEO, and Capital One. She has designed and delivered machine learning, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software systems across multiple industries, and in 2023 was named one of Business Insider’s Top 15 People in Enterprise Artificial Intelligence.
In 2025, Ovetta left her role as Director of AI and Compute Enablement at Google to found Right AI, a consultancy focused on helping organizations minimize the human, organizational, and strategic risks of building and deploying AI.
In this episode you'll learn about:
Why LLM‑first architectures undermine control and defensibility

How enterprise data is unintentionally exposed and reused

Where “responsible AI” breaks down in practice

When generative AI is the wrong tool

What safer, controllable AI systems look like instead

If this episode challenged how you’re thinking about AI, make sure you’re following Design of AI wherever you listen to podcasts. Rating and reviewing the show helps more founders, product leaders, and designers find these conversations.
For deeper, unfiltered thinking on AI strategy, governance, and product decisions, our Substack (https://designofai.substack.com) is the best place to follow our work. It’s where we go beyond the episodes—breaking down what’s actually changing, what’s overhyped, and what leaders should do next.
Ovetta’s work focuses on helping leaders, designers, and organizations reduce human and systemic risk in AI—without defaulting to hype-driven architectures or opaque models.
Follow Ovetta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ovettasampson/

About Ovetta & her work: https://www.ovetta-sampson.com/

Join her mailing list: https://www.ovetta-sampson.com/mailing-list-qr-code

Right AI (consulting & advisory): https://www.rightainow.com/

Free Mindful AI Playbook (QR Code): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tzsr25r4o0g0Szz4oOSnUvrrrxAuXfhpqcB08KzdTyA/edit?usp=sharing

This is episode 49 and was hosted by Arpy Dragffy Guerrero. Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
The Design of AI podcast is brought to you by PH1, an AI strategy consultancy., PH1 has worked with the biggest corporations in tech to redefine CX in the era of AI through strategic research, prototyping, and aligning product to power.

2025 is almost over, and it’s time to stop pretending everything is fine.
If you work in design, writing, product, research, or agencies, you’ve felt it: fewer jobs, lower rates, shrinking teams—and an industry telling you AI is here to free you while quietly replacing you.
In AI Trap, Episode 48, we break down the biggest myths we’ve been sold:
AI will free creatives to do more meaningful work

AI will create more jobs than it destroys

AI will make us smarter and more creative

Some of these are partially true. That’s what makes them dangerous.
We look at real data, real job market signals, and what’s already happening inside agencies and tech companies. We talk about why creativity is being commoditized, why value is collapsing for most creatives, and the line too many people are crossing: outsourcing their thinking instead of outsourcing their work.
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Please help us: we’re running a short survey alongside this episode. If you work in a creative or knowledge role, your input is critical. It takes about three minutes, and it helps us separate hype from reality. https://tally.so/r/Y5D2Q5
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This is episode 48 of the Design of AI podcast.
If you found this conversation valuable, please rate and share the show — your support shapes what we explore next.
For more AI strategy, creative research, and product insight, subscribe to designofai.substack.com

Hosted by Arpy Dragffy Guerrero & Brittany Hobbs

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Most AI projects fail—not because the technology is weak, but because they’re not designed to deliver real customer value.
PH1 Research helps organizations reimagine their customer experience with AI. We pinpoint what customers actually need, prototype and test solutions, and audit AI products before they ship.
We’ve worked with teams at Microsoft, Spotify, and fast-growing startups. Learn more at ph1.ca, or reach out directly to our host, Arpy Dragffy.

AI is threatening creativity, but that's because we're giving too much control to the machine to think on our behalf.
In this episode, Dr. Maya Ackerman — AI-creativity researcher, professor, and author of Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us — explains why the danger isn’t AI itself, but the way we’re designing AI products. She breaks down how today’s tools are unintentionally flattening originality, how “Oracle-mode” models limit imagination, and why we must shift toward building systems that expand human creativity rather than automate it away.
For designers, product managers, and builders, this conversation is a blueprint for developing AI tools that inspire exploration, push users beyond predictable patterns, and create space for genuine ingenuity. If you design tools for creative work, this episode reframes what it means to build technology that actually elevates the human mind rather than quietly replacing it.
➤ Why most AI products suppress creativity
How over-alignment and “correctness” kill imaginative output, and what to do instead.
➤ How hallucinations can fuel originality
Why they’re not failures, but essential sparks for new creative directions.
➤ How AI is reshaping cultural expectations of music, art, and design
And what this means for teams building creative platforms today.
➤ How to design “Humble Creative Machines”
AI that enhances a creator’s skill and taste instead of taking over the process.
➤ How to build incentives that reward curiosity and exploration
02:50 The Role of AI in Enhancing Human Creativity03:26 Historical Perspective on AI and Creativity04:39 The Importance of Novelty and Value in AI Creativity05:52 AI's Potential Beyond Current Applications07:32 Hallucinations: Feature or Bug?08:51 Ethical Considerations in AI Creativity11:13 Humble AI: Elevating Human Creativity24:18 The Role of AI in Creativity25:49 Integrating AI into Creative Workflows26:47 AI as a Creative Assistant27:31 AI in Coding vs. Creative Fields29:51 Incentives in the Creative Domain31:43 Balancing Technology and Humanity39:33 The Future of Education with AI43:37 Practical Tips for Adapting to AI44:04 Collective and Individual Actions for the AI Era45:44 Final Thoughts and Book Promotion

Shifting product strategy away from speed and efficiency toward human ingenuity.
Creative Machines: AI, Art & Us — Dr. Ackerman’s book
https://maya-ackerman.com/creative-machines-book

LyricStudio — AI-powered lyric writing
https://lyricstudio.net

“Humble Creative Machines: Creating AI to Elevate You”
https://www.theaioptimist.com/p/humble-creative-machines-creating

This is Episode 47 of the Design of AI Podcast.
If you found this conversation valuable, please rate and share the show — your support shapes what we explore next.
For more AI strategy, creative research, and product insight, subscribe to https://designofai.substack.com.

Hosted by Arpy Dragffy Guerrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
Brought to you by PH1, a strategy consultancy specializing in prototyping the future of your products and business.https://ph1.ca

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It’s time for our year-end survey: Professional Success in the era of AI 2026
So many of you that we speak to confide in us that you’re worried about your jobs and how to stay relevant as AI is rapidly evolving.
You’ll also help us shape next year’s podcast topics. https://tally.so/r/Y5D2Q5
You can participate at   – it will only take 5 minutes of your time.

The hardest part of building an AI product isn’t the model, it’s the market.
Jessica Randazza Pade, one of today’s leading experts in AI commercialization and Head of Brand Activation & Commercialization at Neurable, joins us to share why most AI products fail and how to build ones that don’t.
She explains how to close the gap between engineering and adoption, why “AI” is not a value proposition, and how making technology invisible can become your biggest competitive advantage. Her core message: you have to deliver real value if you want to keep your customers tomorrow.
What you’ll learn:
➤ Why “AI” isn’t a value prop and how to build for outcomes, not hype.
➤ The three traits every product that actually sells has in common.
➤ How to align engineering and marketing through user feedback loops.
➤ Why “cheaper, faster, better” is a trap and empathy is the real moat.
➤ The next frontier in AI health and personalization.

This is episode 46 of the Design of AI Podcast.
Please rate the show if you find it valuable, as your ratings and comments shape future topics.
For more AI strategy and research, subscribe to our newsletter: designofai.substack.com
This episode was hosted by
Arpy Dragffy Guerrero — https://linkedin.com/in/adragffy 
Brought to you by PH1 Research, a strategy consultancy specializing in mapping the future of your business and product.

Jessica leads the team driving brand activation and commercialization at Neurable. Named one of Campaign US’s 40 Over 40 and Elle Magazine’s 40 Under 40, Jessica is an award-winning global digital marketer, business leader, and storyteller. With a proven track record of helping both Fortune 100 companies and startups achieve explosive growth through data-driven, real-time marketing, she has built and sold successful companies and led high-performing teams at IDEO, Danone, and DigitasLBi across the U.S., EMEA, and Greater China.
Follow her on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicarandazza
Learn more about Neurable and their pioneering brain-computer interface https://www.neurable.com/ 

It’s time for our year-end survey: Professional Success in the era of AI 2026
So many of you that we speak to confide in us that you’re worried about your jobs and how to stay relevant as AI is rapidly evolving.
You’ll also help us shape next year’s podcast topics. 
You can participate at  https://tally.so/r/Y5D2Q5 – it will only take 5 minutes of your time.