Michele Hansen - Standing up for User Research in the Age of AI (with Michele Hansen, Founder @ Geocodio & Author “Deploy Empathy“)

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Dec 30, 2025

Michele Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Geocodio and author of "Deploy Empathy," shares her insights on user research in an AI-driven world. She emphasizes that while AI can assist with tasks like transcription, it cannot replicate the invaluable insights gained from real customer conversations. Michele explores the role of curiosity in interviews, the pitfalls of relying solely on synthetic users, and how research should transform teams, not just products. Her core message? Engage with real people for genuine understanding, even in the age of AI.

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ANECDOTE

AI Failed On Her PDF Proofread

Michele edited her book by hand and briefly tried Claude to check PDF typos, which failed.
She confirmed all content was written by her despite using AI only for minor editing help.

INSIGHT

Neuroscience Explains Good Interviews

Listening activates pleasure centres in interviewees and satisfies curiosity in interviewers.
This neurological reward makes interviews mutually reinforcing and deeply informative.

ADVICE

Use AI To Speed Transcripts

Use transcription and LLM tools to speed up turnaround for interview transcripts and basic analysis.
Validate and edit AI outputs because they are often only 70–90% accurate for nuanced findings.

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In this episode, I'm joined by the returning Michele Hansen, co-founder and CEO of Geocodio and author of Deploy Empathy, now out with a second edition. Michele brings deep experience as a former product manager turned founder, and has spent over a decade helping teams understand customers through rigorous, human-centred research.

We explore what customer research looks like in an AI-accelerated world: where AI genuinely helps, where it falls short, and why talking to real people remains irreplaceable. Along the way, we dig into interviewing craft, curiosity, synthetic users, and some enduring myths that still undermine product discovery.

Episode highlights:

We cover a lot, including:

Why customer interviews still matter in the age of AI - why large language models can accelerate research workflows but cannot replace the insight, judgement, and transformation that comes from engaging directly with customers.
AI as a research intern, not a strategist - AI performs well in certain tasks - transcription, tagging, and basic analysis - but prioritisation, interpretation, and strategy must remain human responsibilities.
The neuroscience of listening and curiosity - both interviewees and interviewers experience genuine pleasure when curiosity is satisfied, reframing interviews as a mutually rewarding process rather than a chore.
What AI misses in real customer conversations - considering the "spiky", unexpected insights that emerge in interviews - and why these often get lost when teams rely too heavily on automated summaries.
Synthetic users, digital twins, and their limits - breaking down different types of simulated users, where they can be useful, and why they depend on high-quality human research to be credible at all.
The problem with the "faster horses" myth - dismantling the misattributed Henry Ford quote and exploring how it's often used to avoid engaging with customers rather than to encourage innovation.
Research as a way to change teams, not just products - how involving teams directly in research builds shared understanding, alignment, and better decision-making across organisations.
Why AI accelerates confusion without product clarity - AI only compounds impact when a clear product vision and customer understanding already exist - otherwise, teams simply move faster in the wrong direction.

Connect with Michele

Learn more about Michele's company, Geocodio: https://www.geocod.io/
Check out the new edition of "Deploy Empathy": https://deployempathy.com/.
Connect with Michele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjwhansen/
Meet Michele at the pub in London! We'll be there on Jan 15th 2026: https://luma.com/xyqi9e2z