Sam
Padmore
Experience Strategy Director at Capgemini
"Who's in Charge? Designing Trustworthy Agentic Experiences"
"Who's in Charge? Designing Trustworthy Agentic Experiences"
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Session: Who's in Charge? Designing Trustworthy Agentic Experiences
As artificial intelligence moves beyond chatbots toward agentic systems that can plan, act, and collaborate on our behalf, UX faces a profound shift. Designing for agentic AI requires more than conversational interfaces, it demands new patterns of interaction, oversight, and ethical responsibility.In my session I explore three interlocking challenges in shaping human–AI collaboration:
• From assistants to collaborators: How do UX patterns change when AI takes initiative, negotiates, and works on behalf and alongside us rather than simply responding to our inputs?
• Trust, control and oversight: How do we balance AI autonomy with user control? How do we design transparency, rollback, and recovery so we remain in charge even when the AI acts unpredictably?
• Ethics and dark patterns: Agentic AI can nudge, manipulate, or invisibly shape outcomes. I will examine ethical design choices and propose heuristics that could ensure systems serve us rather than exploit us.
Drawing from emerging case studies, design heuristics, and critical reflections, this talk will give practitioners practical tools to evaluate and shape agentic AI experiences responsibly.
Attendees will leave with:
• A framework for distinguishing assistive vs. agentic UX patterns
• Design strategies for calibrated trust and meaningful oversight
• Ethical guidelines to identify and avoid dark patterns in agentic AI
By addressing design, trust, and ethics together, this session aims to help UX professionals move beyond the hype and toward responsible, human-centered AI collaboration.
Key Takeaways
- A way to make sense of agentic AI, so people can tell the difference between assistive and agentic systems, and why that matters for the experiences we design.
- Some practical ways to build trust without giving up control through design patterns that help people stay in the loop, even when AI starts taking the lead.
- How to spot, and stop, dark patterns early and use simple ethical heuristics to keep agentic AI experiences empowering rather than manipulative.
- Ability to cut through the noise and hype to get a grounded view of what agentic AI really means for UX and society.
- Some tools designers can actually use, frameworks and strategies to apply in day-to-day work to design more responsible, human-centered AI experiences.
Bio
I am an Experience Strategy Director with over 20 years of shaping design and digital innovation. With an interdisciplinary background spanning strategy, technology, psychology, and design, I bring a human-centered approach that balances ethical responsibility with market viability.Having witnessed and contributed to multiple waves of technological change, I understand how emerging tools reshape daily life and user expectations. My work bridges strategic vision and hands-on practice, enabling me to contextualise new developments like Agentic AI within broader digital trends while keeping user empowerment at the centre.
Throughout my career, I have collaborated closely with technologists, designers, and creatives to translate complex concepts into accessible, meaningful experiences. This perspective informs my commitment to designing responsible, ethical, and user-centric products and services.
