EPIC Redux: AI Meets Human - Who's Really in Charge?

EPIC is a global community of researchers, creators, and innovators doing ethnography for impact in business and organizations, learn more at www.epicpeople.org. Join us for a provocative exploration of how AI is reshaping human connection, expertise, and power dynamics across the globe. Through the lens of ethnographic research, we'll examine crucial questions about cultural sensitivity, human agency, and the future of work in an AI-enabled world.

This session moves between groundbreaking research presentations and lively PechaKucha talks, culminating in a panel discussion with leading experts. Together, we'll challenge common assumptions about AI and discover why ethnographic perspectives are more crucial than ever in shaping technology that truly serves human needs.

Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, or simply curious about the human dimensions of AI, this session promises fresh insights that go beyond the usual narratives.

We'll have a break before the panel and will start the talks at 6:45pm, please arrive from 6:15pm to mingle and have a snack/drink.

1. A History of EPIC in 20 Unwritten Proposals (10 min)
2. Decolonizing LLMs: An Ethnographic Framework for AI Alignment (15 min)
3. How Commoditized Empathy Can Impede Mutual Understanding (7 min)
4. Experts-in-the-Loop: Why Humans Will Not Be Displaced by Machines when There Is “No Right Answer” (15 min)
5. Panel: Where have we got to with AI? Boom or bust? Threat or opportunity for researchers? (30 min)

1. A History of EPIC in 20 Unwritten Proposals
Evan will explore the history of this conference – its themes and contexts – by pitching a series of unwritten submission proposals, one for each year. Reflection and humor are features throughout, and essential at moments of such achievement (20 years!) and anxiety (see: the world)...
Evan Hanover is a linguistic anthropologist and strategist with Conifer Research in Chicago. He has conducted business and consumer research for 25 years in industries ranging from healthcare and financial services to automotive and boating.

2. Decolonizing LLMs: An Ethnographic Framework for AI Alignment
This research explores how AI is used and understood in diverse technological and linguistic ecosystems, with a focus on Africa and what’s at stake. We critically probe how LLMs risk deepening digital divides and marginalizing local languages and knowledge systems, as well as how communities and individuals are adapting to and embracing these technologies. Our findings emphasize the value of ethnographic research in preventing oversimplification and promoting inclusive AI deployments that respect and empower local agency. We propose an adaptable framework to guide culturally attuned LLM research across diverse contexts.
Lindsey DeWitt is a Paris-based Director of UX Research at Bold Insight. A humanities-trained ethnographer and language aficionado, she empowers research and product teams with contextual, actionable insights for global understanding and impact. Lindsey holds a PhD in Asian Languages & Cultures from UCLA and an MA in International Studies and Comparative Religion from the University of Washington.

3. How Commoditized Empathy Can Impede Mutual Understanding
The customer support industry relies on an illusion of proximity between agents and the customers they serve. During COVID, working from home caused this illusion to fall away. Sounds of life (animals, children, street noise) leaked through the phone and these signals of “foreignness” could provoke irritation, even ire, from customers.
This PechaKucha posits an opportunity for our work as ethnographers to generate a new norm where homogeneity is not a condition for empathy. In what ways can we reshape corporate policies to embrace diversity and foster genuine reciprocity between agents and customers, allowing both parties to truly see and be seen?
Jamie Taylor brings his passion for storytelling and visual communication into his work as a service designer. Before joining Sutherland Jamie tried his hand at many professions; freelance design, running a ski business, owning a print shop, working at a brewery, and taxi driving – just to name a few! During his spare time Jamie loves to adventure, his interests include rock climbing, hiking, and spending time in the garden with his wife and two daughters.

4. Experts-in-the-Loop: Why Humans Will Not Be Displaced by Machines when there Is “No Right Answer”
Our talk explores the resilience of human expertise in an age of Large Language Models (LLMs). Through an interdisciplinary study of travel planning—a domain where there is "no right answer"—we develop a framework and methodology for clarifying the ongoing value of human experts alongside Conversational AI systems. Our framework identifies three themes that define the unique value of human expertise: curating knowledge, personalizing interactions, and offering a perspective. For each theme, we outline strategies and tactics used by human experts that AI struggles to meaningfully replicate at scale. We contrast this with complementary strategies that AI systems are uniquely positioned to offer. Finally, we provide design and engineering principles to guide product teams seeking to shape the implementation of this emerging technology in a way that augments, rather than automates, human experts across consumer domains.
Tom Hoy is Partner and co-founder of Stripe Partners. His expertise lies in integrating social science, data science and design to unlock concrete business and product challenges. The frameworks developed by Tom’s teams guide the activity of clients including Apple, Spotify and Google. Prior to co-founding Stripe Partners, Tom was a leader in the social innovation field, growing a hackathon network in South London to several hundred members to address local causes.

5. Panel: Where have we got to with AI? Boom or bust? Threat or opportunity for researchers?
It’s nearly two years since Chat GPT was launched. The last 2 years have seen plenty of hype and heat in the world of AI. And there’s growing evidence that many of the promises for its transformational potential are some way from materializing. What is the community’s current experience of AI in their organization? Does it remain at the top of the agenda? To what extent has their work been influenced by the desire to introduce AI into the mix? How is it changing their day-to-day research practices, is it automating, augmenting or soon to replace what they do? Tingting Zhao (GDS) will join the speakers for the panel.