Cross-Cutting Themes
Trust and calibration, the regulatory perimeter, social presence: what holds whatever else is happening.
Whichever of the phenomena applies to you, and whether or not anybody adopts anything, three things hold: users misunderstand the system in both directions and trust has to be calibrated; from this year compliance is inside the design perimeter; and a system that calibrates its tone produces a perception of social presence you did not necessarily intend.
The membership rule is strict — a theme belongs here only if it holds across all of them. Accessibility and hybrid interfaces used to sit here and no longer does: it is a consequence of the conversational interface in particular, not a condition on everything else, and it now sits in that chapter.
Trust, AI Literacy and Calibration
Users misunderstand GenAI in two opposite directions: overestimation and unjustified distrust. Calibration is built in degrees.
Forces the decision The trust budget
From 2026 compliance enters the design perimeter: disclosure, content marking, minors' consent, accessibility.
Forces the decision Who signs, and who answers
GenAI calibrate the tone, apologize, thank: a perception of social presence. Where does designed empathy end and relational manipulation begin?
Forces the decision The trust budget