This might be our most giggly conversation yet. Alicia Quan and Sarah Mondestin interview Annabel Blake (they/them), Principal AI Design Researcher at Canva.
The three discuss connections throughout Annabel’s career and life, touching on various topics like research, kids, play, AI, ethics, toys, authorship, and advice for designers and researchers working the spaces of education and AI.
So much gold in this one!
🎙️ Available on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Annabel works on conversational interfaces, generative experiences for education and on early R&D. Annabel’s work lives at the intersection of research, design, and play and includes studying how young people experiment with AI recreationally and how they use it for fun, comfort, and creativity. Annabel also writes “strange little books for children, like a book you wear on your head or a story about a robot goat… that comes with a chatbot goat (called Sardine!).”
Substack: Annabel Blake and Playful Futures
00:00 Annabel's Squiggly Career Path
03:14 Olympic Journey and Injury
04:42 Reflections on Career Squiggles
06:07 Intersection of Research, Design, and Play
08:38 Kids and AI: Restoration and Exploration
12:46 Children's Books and Technology
17:39 Young People and AI: Surprising Uses
21:39 Designing for AI vs. Traditional UX
28:17 Co-Design and Early Access Testing
32:48 Educators and AI Tools
36:22 Innovative Teachers and Their Challenges
39:24 The Importance of Playfulness in Education
46:11 AI in Education: Balancing Innovation and Ethics
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