This week, Bold Insight Directors Lindsey DeWitt Prat, PhD and Kirsten Bruckbauer will join Prof. Dr. Michael Gerlich, Head of Center for Strategic Corporate Foresight and Sustainability and Head of Executive Education, SBS Swiss Business School, for a virtual EPIC discussion. The session, Generative AI, cognitive offloading, and the future of critical thinking in research and society, will unpack Gerlich’s recent research on cognitive offloading and critical thinking. The discussion will also highlight the social implications of his findings and productive ways to interpret and act on them.   

DeWitt Prat and Bruckbauer will expand the dialogue into ethnographic research practices. They will address how AI changes research workflows, cognitive offloading in research operations, pressures of efficiency and quantification bias, AI tools as sociotechnical assemblages, ethnographic versus AI pattern finding, and strategic uses of AI. 

“AI tools don’t just change how we work—they change how we think,” said Bruckbauer. “That’s why we need to stay reflective, not just efficient.” 

Next month, DeWitt Prat will lead an EPIC tutorial titled Your Tech Stack Needs a Thinking Stack: Building a High-Value Ethnographic Practice in the AI Era. She previously presented at the EPIC2024 conference, alongside colleagues from Mantaray Africa and Google. The team shared insights from their ethnographic research on AI in African contexts grounded in a peer-reviewed paper published by EPIC.  

The talk will take place virtually on Wednesday, May 14, from 9:00–10:15 am PDT. Visit the event website to learn more. 

About EPIC
EPIC is a nonprofit membership organization, global community, and annual conference that supports the professional development, learning, and leadership of people who practice and promote ethnography. 

About Bold Insight
Bold Insight is a UX and human factors research agency based in Chicago and London. We execute projects that span the product development life cycle, conducting user research that informs early product design and global human factors validation. We work with digital, next-generation technology—medical devices, mobile apps, IFUs, and customer journeys. Learn more about our AI expertise.