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!

About Annabel

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!).”

Annabel’s Links

⁠Playful Futures⁠

⁠annabelblake.com⁠

⁠bookandbot.com⁠

⁠Center for Humane Technology⁠

Chapters

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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