UX Visionary Series | Key Lime Interactive
What makes people willing to use AI? Technical capability is one part of the answer. People also need confidence in the technology and a clear understanding of how it can help with the problems they face.
For this edition of Key Lime Interactive’s UX Visionary Series, we hear from Andrew van Nelson, a designer, researcher, and strategist focused on making complex things feel clear, purposeful, and human.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Andrew’s career spans startups, agencies, and consulting. As Senior Design Manager at Proofpoint, he leads designers across multiple product teams, partnering with executive leadership, product, and engineering to shape UX strategy, scale design systems, and strengthen research practices. He also serves on LogRocket’s content advisory board and previously volunteered with the US Digital Service.
Andrew’s perspective brings two connected challenges into focus: earning people’s trust and aligning AI capabilities with their actual needs. Below, he shares where he sees adoption breaking down and how research can help teams move forward.
What do you see as the biggest barrier to AI adoption today?
It’s a tie between trust and misalignment.
Members of the general public have issues trusting AI for a variety of reasons, and that lack of trust keeps people from adopting it. Since UX practitioners are more concerned with trustworthiness and safety than most members of the general public, I think that lack of trust is really magnified.
The misalignment barrier is the mismatch between how humans use actual systems, or what their actual problems are, and the limitations of AI and its output. If a system doesn’t perform well for specific problems but tries to be all things to all people, that misalignment is where the real frustration comes from.
How can UX research help people feel more comfortable using AI?
UX research can help people feel more comfortable using AI, though building broader acceptance will take more than research alone.
Research will help uncover the weaknesses or strengths in specific use cases of AI or agentic systems. Design and communication can then help accurately explain and demonstrate the value that AI can bring.
It will also take a significant public relations effort to address the broader, non-technical concerns surrounding AI.
Connecting capability with human needs
Andrew’s perspective highlights a practical starting point for AI adoption: understand the problem people need to solve, then examine whether the experience earns their confidence.
For teams building AI experiences, research provides evidence about where the technology helps, where it falls short, and what people need to understand. Bringing that evidence into design and communication helps teams make better decisions about the experiences they deliver.
UX Visionary is a Key Lime Interactive series featuring perspectives from people shaping the future of research, design, technology, and human experience.