Amit Popat: a beautiful AI product that nobody bought

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UX Evolved - Strategically fusing UX+AI

Eric Ellis

6 episodes

2 weeks ago

UX is evolving, not dying. Host Eric Ellis brings two decades of design leadership to conversations with UX veterans who've navigated everything from Web 2.0 to mobile to AI. These aren't tool tutorials or hot takes—they're strategic discussions about professional resilience and the irreplaceable human elements of design. New episodes monthly. Because the future of UX isn't about choosing between human and machine—it's about designing the fusion.

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Amit Popat: a beautiful AI product that nobody bought

UX Evolved - Strategically fusing UX+AI

44 minutes 33 seconds

1 month ago

Amit Popat: a beautiful AI product that nobody bought

Amit Popat built a beautiful AI product that nobody bought. Then he sat in a hotel watching managers use whiteboards to make pricing decisions in 2019. That's when everything changed.From Cambridge math to building EasyJet's personalization engine to leading AI/ML at Cloudbeds, Amit has learned the hard way that cool technology doesn't win—solving real problems does. We dive into his own Alexa fail, why 1970s Paris Metro machines beat modern UX, and why tinkering and curiosity aren't optional in an AI-accelerated world.If you're building AI products or wondering how UX translates to this new landscape, this conversation will ground you in what actually matters: proximity to real problems beats assumptions every time.

(00:00) Introduction(01:49) Welcome and Amit's Background(02:47) From Pure Math to Product Thinking(03:53) Early iPhone Development and UX Education(04:47) The Paris Metro Lesson: 1970s UX vs Modern Touchscreens(06:22) Removing Friction: Timeless Design Principles(07:00) The Value of Tinkering and Curiosity(08:45) Embedding Yourself in the Problem Space(10:06) The Whiteboard Story: Revenue Management in 2019(13:23) Building AI That Solves Real Problems(18:14) From Engineering to Product Leadership(21:45) The AI Hype vs Reality Gap(26:32) When Technical Excellence Meets User Needs(31:18) Network Intelligence and Pattern Recognition(35:27) Mistakes and Lessons Learned(38:57) The Alexa Catastrophe: Beautiful Product Nobody Bought(41:37) Dampening the Geek: Ego and Humility in Product Design(42:42) Closing Question: Redesigning Apple's iPhone Holder