Designing for Truth in an Era of AI Hallucinations / Inside Service Design / Episode #08

Dec 25, 2025

In this engaging discussion, service design experts Jessica Dugan and Judith Buhmann delve into the complexities of integrating AI into design workflows. Jessica shares her framework for developing custom AI agents that act as effective 'junior associates,' while Judith highlights the ethical considerations of using AI, especially with vulnerable populations. They explore the balance of trust in AI tools, the importance of transparency, and how these digital 'interns' can enhance rather than replace human creativity in service design.

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ANECDOTE

Designing Under Political Pressure

Judith described redesigning the WAV (wheelchair accessible vehicle) customer experience while navigating political disinformation and budget uncertainty.
She highlighted interviewing customers and bringing their voices into design despite a hostile context.

INSIGHT

Depth Is The In-House Advantage

In-house design lets you dig deeper and build long-term relationships that reveal systemic causes, not just symptoms.
That depth enables better, context-aware interventions across multiple projects.

INSIGHT

AI As A Promising But Fallible Intern

Both guests treat AI as a capable but unreliable junior associate that needs supervision and oversight.
They emphasized cautious experimentation and constant human review to avoid hallucinations.

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We need to talk about the "intern" sitting on your desktop...

Come on, you know the one.

Sure, they are fast, very eager to please, and can process data at lightning speeds.

But they also have a bad habit of hallucinating facts and making things up just to make you happy.

Of course, I’m talking about AI.

It is fair to say that we are past the initial "wow" phase of generative AI.

Now, for us service design professionals, the real question is: How do we actually hire, train, and trust this new digital colleague?

That is the focus of this episode of our Inside Service Design series.

We sit down for a chat with two brilliant professionals: Jessica Dugan and Judith Buhmann.

They share a grounded, hype-free look at how they are integrating AI into their own existing workflows. Not as a replacement for our work, but as a "Junior Associate" who needs some (sometimes a lot) management.

To make this real, Jess walks us through the framework she uses for building her own custom AI agents. She explains how to define their "persona," scope their tasks, and curate their knowledge base so they can actually be useful (and safe).

And Judith shares a critical perspective on why we can’t fully trust AI yet. We explore why we need to treat AI as an "unreliable narrator" especially when working with vulnerable groups.

So if you are feeling a bit somewhat by the pressure to "use AI" but aren't sure how to do it responsibly, this conversation has some key insights you don't want to miss.

Here's a question: If you had to give your current AI tools a "performance" review, what rating would you give them? A) Employee of the month B) Promising intern (needs supervision) C) Chaos agent (fires random info at me).

Let me know, I’m really curious where we are all at!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to the November Round Up

04:00 Jess's journey into service desig

09:45 Judith's challenge

12:30 Designing for the employee experience and internal systems

14:00 The "Pros" of in-house service design

15:30 The necessity of patience and deep knowledge for in-house success

18:30 Judith topic

19:00 Jess topic: Building (and trusting) your own AI agent

23:00 Why we cannot fully trust any AI

27:00 Scoping the AI agent's role and understanding user need

29:00 Designing the "Human" side: Setting personality and tone for your agent

33:45 Accessibility: Is it actually hard to build your own agent?

35:30 Human-in-the-loop: Regulation and ensuring data accuracy

40:00 Why transparency matters more than just "trust"

47:00 Getting organizational buy-in for AI tools

54:45 Markers of success: How service blueprints live on after the workshop

56:30 Closing thoughts and Question to Ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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