Are your UX personas actually grounded in reality — or are they just AI-generated NPCs with convincing backstories?

In video games, NPCs (Non-Player Characters) are the background characters that walk around, say scripted things, and just kind of exist in the world — they look alive, but nobody's really home. Sound familiar? That's exactly what most UX personas have become: scripted, made-up, and nobody actually talked to them.

In this episode, we dig into the uncomfortable truth about personas: most of them have always been a little made up, but AI just made it faster and more dangerous. We break down the difference between hypothesized personas and research-backed ones, what happens when AI generates a "real-sounding" quote that never happened, and why AGI on the horizon makes this an even bigger deal for UX designers.

✅ The 3-step gut check to keep your personas honest
✅ When AI personas are actually useful (yes, really)
✅ Why speed without validation is just convincing fiction
The rule: AI drafts, humans validate. Always.

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👉 Next Tuesday: AI-generated alt text — is it actually making the web more accessible, or just filling in the blanks?