where boundaries dissolve

AI gives you speed, not direction: How successful startups and fortune 500 companies leverage UX to grow their AI-powered products and outcompete others at scale, #68 w Kristina Morf UX/UI Expert + Founder/CEO UXD Lab

Episode Summary

In this episode, I sit down with Kristina Morf—Founder/CEO of UXD Lab an UX/UI Expert—to unpack one of the most misunderstood questions in 2025: Can AI build better products than we can? The answer? It depends—on you. We explore the truth behind what Fortune 500 companies and successful startups are getting right about how to integrate UX with AI, and why the real differentiator is still something only humans bring to the table: judgment, emotional intelligence, user empathy, and the ability to integrate the customer's voice into your product's vision. From Siemens' AI-powered platform and successfully leveraging UX to bring it to market to AI tools to leverage for UX + UI in product development, we talk about why "an app is not a goal", what the rise of no-code means for your product team, and how to avoid building a feature no one wants—faster than ever before. If you’re a founder, product leader, or UX strategist wondering how to stay ahead without losing your soul in the process—this one’s for you.

Episode Notes

In this episode, Kristina Morf, Founder/CEO of UXD Lab and UX/UI Expert, and I unpack one of the most misunderstood questions in 2025: Can AI build better products than we can? The answer? It depends—on you.

We explore the truth behind what Fortune 500 companies and successful startups are getting right about how to integrate UX with AI, and why the real differentiator is still something only humans bring to the table: judgment, emotional intelligence, user empathy, and the ability to integrate the customer's voice into your product's vision.

From Siemens' AI-powered platform and successfully leveraging UX to bring it to market, to AI tools for UX + UI in product development, we talk about why "an app is not a goal", what the rise of no-code means for your product team, and how to avoid building a feature no one wants—faster than ever before.

If you’re a founder, product leader, or UX strategist wondering how to stay ahead without losing your soul in the process—this one’s for you.

4 Takeaways:

• AI gives you speed—but only you can steer. → In a world of instant output, your judgment is key.
• UX uncovers edge cases, let that be your edge.→ The outliers in your data aren't distractions. They're where breakthrough differentiation begins.
• User data and AI are not enemies—they're symbiotic. → UX is no longer a “nice to have.” It's the strategy that turns insights into product advantage.
• You don’t need to code from scratch. But you do need to think from scratch. → AI can scaffold ideas, but creative vision still has to come from you.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to AI + User Centricity

01:35 Kristina's Background

02:22 AI in Product Development

03:12 Authenticity in Product Management

04:55 Key Challenges to building a Web3 Product before AI: "Would you have done it the same today with AI?"

08:53 AI Applications in Product Development

09:52 The Importance of User Research

10:08 Prototyping and Testing with AI

11:51 The Evolving Role of Product Managers

13:30 The Intersection of UX and AI

17:05 The Importance of Edge Cases And How To Find Them With UX

27:32 The Power of No-Code Tools

31:13 Workshops and Final Thoughts