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Semi-structured interviews with 21 UX researchers, product managers, and designers identify challenges in aligning AI capabilities with interpretive, collaborative analysis and highlight trust tensions. A second study validates an analysis approach aligned with human processes to address trust issues, and proposes interaction patterns and design guidelines for responsible integration.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/","Presentations",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-emerging-use-of-genai-for-ux-research-in-software-development-challenges-and-opportunities/253814/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-emerging-use-of-genai-for-ux-research-in-software-development-challenges-and-opportunities/253814.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Sophia 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processes.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What trust-related issues are highlighted?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"UX researchers reported limited trust in AI-generated results, while product managers tended to overestimate AI capabilities, increasing organizational pressure to accelerate research in agile cycles.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},253814,1791732593,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,93,98,102,107,112,117,122],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,90,"presentations",{"id":89,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":94,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":55,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":103,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},16,"Social 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Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":123,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":127},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":85,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":140,"read_time":103},962084925636,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","arXiv :2512 . 15944v1 [ cs .HC] 17 Dec 2025  \nThe Emerging Use of GenAI for UX Research in Software Development: Challenges and Opportunities  \nHELOISA CANDELLO, IBM Research, Brazil WERNER GEYER, IBM Research, United States SIYA KUNDE, IBM Research, United States MICHAEL MULLER, IBM Research, United States DAITA SARKAR, watsonx.governance, IBM, India JESSICA HE, IBM Research, United States  \nMARIELA CLAUDIA LANZA, IBM Research, Argentina CARLOS ROSEMBERG, AI Design, IBM, Canada GORD DAVISON, AI for Product Teams, IBM, Canada LISA PELLETIER, AI for Product Teams, IBM, United States  \nManuscript submitted to ACM 1  \nFig. 1. One of the five screens of the design probe we showed during semi-structured interviews with 21 UX researchers, product managers, and designers. The transcript area (A) shows interview data uploaded into the system and allows users to drill down into details (not shown here) . The default topic view (B) renders topics extracted by AI as bubbles on a canvas. Clicking on topics displays a topic summary and details about a topic including metrics about the topic. (C) . Users can switch between multiple views of the data (D) including an outlier view and a view organized by research topics. The chat interface (E) allows users to interact with the application and its data conversationally.  \nThe growing adoption of generative AI (GenAI) is reshaping how user experience (UX) research teams conduct qualitative research in software development, creating opportunities to streamline the production of qualitative insights. This paper presents findings from two user studies examining how current practices are challenged by GenAI and offering design implications for future AI assistance. Semi-structured interviews with 21 UX researchers, product managers, and designers reveal challenges of aligning AI capabilities with the interpretive, collaborative nature of qualitative research and tensions between roles. UX researchers expressed limited trust in AI-generated results, while product managers often overestimated AI capabilities, amplifying organizational pressures to accelerate research within agile workflows. In a second study, we validated an AI analysis approach more closely aligned with human analysis processes to address trust issues bottoms-up. We outline interaction patterns and design guidelines for responsibly integrating AI into software development cycles.  \nCCS Concepts: • Social and professional topics → Computing occupations; • Human-centered computing → User studies; • Computing methodologies → Information extraction; • Software and its engineering;  \nAdditional Key Words and Phrases: UX Research, Thematic Analysis, Generative AI, Agile Software Development, Design Probe, System Validation, Collaboration  \nACM Reference Format:  \nHeloisa Candello, Werner Geyer, Siya Kunde, Michael Muller, Daita Sarkar, Jessica He, Mariela Claudia Lanza, Carlos Rosemberg, Gord Davison, and Lisa Pelletier. 2018. The Emerging Use of GenAI for UX Research in Software Development: Challenges and Opportunities. In Proceedings of Make sure to enter the correct conference title from your rights confirmation email (Conference acronym’XX). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 46 pages. [https://doi.org/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX](https://doi.org/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX)  \n1 Introduction  \nGenerative AI (GenAI) is being rapidly adopted across industries, transforming how professionals approach knowledge work and decision-making tasks [5, 18, 44] . In the context of agile software development, user research, in particular qualitative analysis, plays an important role in translating customer needs and requirements into actionable insights for product teams [2, 34]. This process is inherently interpretive and often collaborative, requiring iterative coding, synthesis, and also a deep understanding of user context [4, 8, 9]. For a long time, researchers have explored how technology  \nAuthors’ Contact Information: Heloisa Candello, [heloisa.candello@ibm.com](heloisa.ca","cbCaie4nGpKTKO2x","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaie4nGpKTKO2x","pdf",1550234,46,"English","# Introduction\n## Generative AI adoption and UX research context\n## Interpretive and collaborative qualitative analysis\n## Study outcomes and design implications","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the paper address about GenAI in UX research?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how GenAI changes qualitative UX research practices in software development and what challenges arise when integrating AI assistance into interpretive, collaborative workflows.\"},{\"question\":\"How were the findings obtained?\",\"answer\":\"The paper reports two user studies, including semi-structured interviews with 21 UX researchers, product managers, and designers, plus a second study validating an AI analysis approach aligned with human analysis processes.\"},{\"question\":\"What trust-related issues are highlighted?\",\"answer\":\"UX researchers reported limited trust in AI-generated results, while product managers tended to overestimate AI capabilities, increasing organizational pressure to accelerate research in agile cycles.\"}]","The Emerging Use of GenAI for UX Research in Software Development - Challenges and Opportunities | PDF",1789270474]