AI Knows Best, Until It Doesn’t: When Human-AI Interaction Breaks Down

About the talk (Englisch):
AI promises better, faster, and safer decisions - but what happens when that promise outpaces reality? In this talk, I draw on recent work from our HCI group at the University of St. Gallen to show where and why human-AI interaction breaks down, and what this means for designers and users.

I focus on two complementary studies. First, a systematic analysis of “Death by GPS” incidents reveals how over-reliance on navigation systems can lead to strandings, wrong-way driving, and fatal crashes, highlighting concrete design implications for safer routing. Second, a placebo study using Fitts’ Law shows that simply labelling a standard computer mouse as “AI-assisted” significantly inflates user expectations - without improving performance, usability, or workload. Together, these cases expose a central tension in UX today: people often trust systems that either over-promise or fail precisely when their recommendations matter most.

About the speaker:
Johannes Schöning is Professor of Computer Science at the University of St. Gallen, where he leads the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group. His research focuses on HCI, human-centred AI, and geoinformatics. Before joining St. Gallen, he held positions at the University of Bremen, Hasselt University, UCL, and DFKI. He is an ACM Distinguished Member and recipient of the ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award and two Google Research Awards.

Website: https://www.johannesschoening.de

When:
Wednesday, 3. June 2026, at 18:30

Place:
YOO AG
Hirschgässlein 11
4051 Basel

Agenda:
18:30 - Arrival / Registration
18:45 - Welcome
18:50 - Talk "AI Knows Best, Until It Doesn’t: When Human-AI Interaction Breaks Down"
19:30 - Free Apéro & Networking
21:00 - Lights out

Entrance is free of charge.

Fair play: Seating at the location is limited at 50 people. Once your plans change, please unregister. Thanks a lot!

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us at basel@uxschweiz.ch.

This event is co-financed by the membership fees of UX Switzerland. Support us and become a member.