It's unlikely that AI will ever truly replace UX researchers, but as LLMs come along in leaps and bounds, we'd be pretty silly not to consider whether we can use these tools to 'research' more effectively and save ourselves time and money.

The real trick that we need to discover is... what can we offload to an agent? When do we need real live humans to make sure we're not ending up in AI bubbles? Is there anything AI can do better than humans? And what are the repercussions if we get it wrong?

Nielsen Norman certified UX consultant Jo Minney looks at some of the most common UX research practices and how AI can be integrated into them ethically - and whether or not the trade off is worth it.