Name: UX Lecture: Anatomy of a Synthetic stakeholder
Start: 2025-11-19T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-11-19T21:00:00+01:00
Location: Bikkelhart

Imagine onboarding an alien employee — they are brilliant, tireless, but they are also just slightly out of sync with our world. That is what working with AI in design often feels like.

In this talk, our speaker, Eric Gu, will share insights from four years of PhD research at TU Delft, where he studied *synthetic stakeholders* — AI systems that simulate users, clients, and collaborators in design contexts.

We’ll examine how these systems behave out of the box, what patterns and tendencies to watch for — the quirks, biases, and social instincts that quietly shape co-creation — and how to design them more intentionally for creative work. Along the way, Eric will share how he has woven these synthetic collaborators into his own practice.

**SPEAKER**
[Eric Gu](http://linkedin.com/in/creativelytechnological) wears many hats across industry and academia. A design-practitioner-researcher and entrepreneur, he’s currently pursuing a PhD at TU Delft on synthetic stakeholders—AI collaborators that augment human creativity and decision-making. Previously, he taught at Imperial College London and co-created The Augmented Designer curriculum for the Dyson School of Design Engineering.

**HOST**
[Bikkelhart](https://www.bikkelhart.com/) is an Amsterdam based Digital Agency, focused on design and optimization of digital customer journeys for clients such as Ayvens, Corendon, Independer, Inshared, NS and Pathé. Their services range from brand strategy to video productions and from digital strategy to A/B testing. But foremost they are specialized in using behavioral science as foundation for all their work, always putting the user in the center of all that they create.

**PROGRAM**
18:00 Doors open, food & drinks
18:30 Talk + Q&A
19:30 Drinks & networking

📸 ***Please keep in mind there will be pictures taken at the event. They will be uploaded to the meetup page and might be used on social media.***

**ABOUT UX LECTURE**
Meetups where people from academia share their research results and methods with UX practitioners in order to reduce the gap between academia and industry.

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UX Lecture: Anatomy of a Synthetic stakeholder

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UX Lecture: Anatomy of a Synthetic stakeholder

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