Episode 242 | September 29, 2026
Why human intelligence matters more as AI gets smarter
Discover why UserTesting is becoming part of Auros and how human intelligence can help organizations build, test and evaluate more trustworthy AI.
Why human intelligence matters more as AI gets smarter
AI is becoming more capable by the day. But the more responsibility we give it, the more important another question becomes: Where does human intelligence fit?
That question is at the heart of this special Insights Unlocked episode, where host Nathan Isaacs sits down with CEO Eric Johnson and CMO Johann Wrede to discuss UserTesting’s next chapter: Auros, a new parent company built around the growing value of verified human expertise.
The announcement represents a new name, but the story behind it has been building for two decades.
Building on 20 years of human insight
For years, UserTesting has helped organizations understand the people using the products and experiences they create. User Interviews expanded that foundation by helping researchers find people with the specific backgrounds and expertise they need.
“We spent twenty years building the infrastructure to find real people, verify who they are, and connect companies with their perspectives and expertise,” Eric said. “As AI becomes more capable, access to real people and verified human expertise becomes more valuable, not less.”
Today, that network includes 7.6+ million verified people. And as companies race to build AI models, agents and AI-powered experiences, the need for human intelligence in AI is expanding.
That opportunity helped inspire Auros.
“UserTesting was the perfect brand for the SaaS era,” Johann explained. But as AI changes how technology is built and experienced, “we could have a much bigger impact.”
Meet Auros
Human insight has always made better experiences possible. Now, it’s helping shape the future of AI. Discover how Auros brings together UserTesting, User Interviews, and new AI services to help organizations build technology people can trust.
From usability to trust
For traditional software, experience research has often focused on usability. Can someone find what they need? Can they complete a task? Where do they encounter friction?
AI adds another dimension, Johann said.
A person can know exactly how to use an AI assistant and still question whether they should trust its answer.
“Trust is non-deterministic,” Johann said. The questions become more nuanced:
- Does the AI appear to be working in someone’s best interest?
- Do they feel in control?
- Do they trust what it tells them?
Those questions point toward an expanding role for researchers and human experts. AI trust, safety and quality can require judgment that goes beyond whether a system technically completed its task.
And sometimes, it’s not enough to find just any person to provide that judgment. Organizations need the right people with relevant experience, perspectives and expertise.
That is where Auros sees an opportunity to build on its existing strengths: connecting organizations with verified people who can help train, evaluate and improve AI.
Moving forward together
The new company doesn’t mean leaving UserTesting or User Interviews behind.
Both will continue as product brands under Auros, serving the experience research and insights communities they support today. Existing customer contracts and day-to-day operations remain unchanged, while the company says it is continuing to invest in both products.
“We’re not trying to move away from the community that we’ve worked with for years,” Johann said. “We want to move with that community.”
AI is changing product development, research and customer experiences, Johann said. But it doesn’t make understanding people less important. It creates new opportunities to bring human judgment into the process; from understanding whether customers trust an AI experience to helping evaluate the models and agents behind it.
For Eric, that opportunity is what makes the moment so exciting.
“You get very few times, and many people probably never get a chance in their career, to ever work at a company that is impactful as we’re becoming,” he said. “To be working right now in this whole AI era when so much of it’s happening, being figured out… wow. That’s special.”
BENCHMARK
The UserTesting AI Relationship Quality (ARQ™) benchmark
The UserTesting AI Relationship Quality (ARQ™) benchmark gives you a clear measure of how well your AI experience is working for you customers
Additional resources
- Customer letter: Hear directly from Auros CEO Eric Johnson about what the new company means for UserTesting and User Interviews customers, why he’s optimistic about the role of human judgment in AI, and what isn’t changing.
- Webinar: Research in the age of AI. This on-demand webinar explores how AI is reshaping UX research and how researchers can combine AI with human expertise while building trust, directly complementing Johann’s discussion of moving beyond traditional usability.
- Guide: Human insight for the AI-driven product development process. This guide examines how human insight can improve AI-driven product development as AI makes software faster and cheaper to build, reinforcing the episode’s argument that human judgment becomes more—not less—important as AI capabilities grow
