The Feed & The Thread - January 17, 2026

This episode covers the benefits of chatbots expressing uncertainty and examines when tools mimic human interaction. It also previews future UX trends and highlights community discussions on graphic design employment, AI impact on creativity, and web design techniques. The podcast mentions UX Camp Winter, an online event scheduled for February 21st featuring presentations from industry experts. In This Episode The importance of chatbots admitting uncertainty in their responses Ethical considerations when designing AI with human-like qualities Analysis on how UX design is evolving and stabilizing by 2026 Articles Mentioned “The Case for the Uncertain AI: Why Chatbots Should Say ‘I’m Not Sure’” by Alexandre Tempel (UX Design.cc) - https://uxdesign.cc/the-case-for-the-uncertain-ai-why-chatbots-should-say-im-not-sure-8d8b4d2bab89?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4 “When Tools Pretend to Be People” by Bora (UX Design.cc) - https://uxdesign.cc/when-tools-pretend-to-be-people-4283748d33e1?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4 “State of UX 2026: Design Deeper to Differentiate” by Kate Moran, Raluca Budiu, Sarah Gibbons, The Experts at NN/g (Nielsen Norman Group) - https://www.nngroup.com/articles/state-of-ux-2026/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss-syndication Community Discussions r/Design - Graphic Design Employment r/web_design - Video Dither / ASCII Effect Pro r/Design - AI Destroy My Passion and Desire to Design r/web_design - I Just Ported Kube’s Liquid Glass Demo to Pure HTML/CSS/JS r/UXDesign - Conversational Interfaces in Agentic Systems: UX Strategy in the Development of AI Agents Announcement Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Winter on Saturday, February 21st. Get tickets at chicagocamps.org. About The Feed & The Thread The Feed & The Thread is a daily summary of UX articles found in the industry and some light-touch updates from the UX Community found in online forums. It’s brief, and meant as a light-touch overview of what’s happening across UX.