"Let me start with the bit nobody wants to hear. UX is on the corporate chopping block again. If you've been in this industry long enough, you'll recognize the pattern. We saw it after the dot-com bust. We saw hints of it during various economic downturns. And we're seeing it now. Some folks think rebranding will save us. We tried that before, remember? We went from "usability" to "UX" and it bought us some time."
"The interesting thing is that the World Economic Forum still lists UX as a growth area. So what's going on? I think we're seeing a split forming between two very different types of UX work: the shallow, template-driven kind that AI can increasingly handle, and the messy, human-centered kind that requires judgment, taste, and the ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics."
"Templates and processes won't cut it anymore. If your approach to UX is downloading frameworks and following checklists without much critical thinking, 2026 is going to feel uncomfortable. Because AI can do that now. And it does it faster. The UX professionals who thrive will be the ones with uniquely human skills. Critical thinking. Taste (yes, that subjective, hard-to-define thing your design school professor tried to explain). The ability to navigate messy organizational dynamics without making enemies."
UX faces renewed corporate pressure, with a clear split emerging between shallow, template-driven tasks and deep, human-centered practice. Template-based, checklist-driven UX work is increasingly automatable by AI and will offer reduced job security. Human-centered UX that requires judgment, critical thinking, subjective taste, and the ability to manage complex organizational dynamics retains value. Rebranding or relabeling roles does not change underlying value. Professionals who develop interpersonal influence, design sensibility, and strategic judgment will be better positioned in 2026.
Read at Paul Boag - User Experience Advice
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