Member-only story
Empathy. Without actually caring.
I recently had a conversation with a fellow queer woman in tech.
She asked me if I thought Chat GPT would replace User Researchers.
I paused for a moment.
Having seen so many tech companies letting go of the very positions that focus on understanding the humans that buy and user their products.
I eventually said,
“Should they? Absolutely not.”
“Will they? …I could see it happening.”
I explained that already the people who are experts in behavioural science and psychology of users are being laid off and released from tech companies.
Meanwhile, data scientists stay. What does that mean for the products that are being created? It means assumptions based on numbers and quantitative data as opposed to qualitative evidence.
It means assuming that the creators know their users which is the exact thing that user researchers prove is untrue.
Then, a couple of days later, I saw a post talking about Synthetic Users.
He was early April, and I had to assume it was an April Fool’s joke.
A couple of days later, I saw the company being mentioned again.
I looked into it t more — It does not appear to be a joke.
