Headshot of Aaron Kagan, PhD

Aaron Kagan, PhD

AI strategy and UX research leader specializing in human-AI systems and AI evaluation · Instructor, UXR Institute · Founder of GraspingAI · Former Staff UX Researcher, Google & Meta

Before you can evaluate whether an AI product works, someone has to define what 'works' means in terms the team can actually measure. That definition is usually where the most important research happens.

About

Aaron has spent the better part of a decade doing the definitional work that comes before an AI product can be evaluated at all. His clearest demonstration of it is also his most consequential: when Google needed to define "choice" for European regulators under the Digital Markets Act, his Choice Lab research turned an open-ended policy mandate into a measurable framework, now the foundation for evaluating DMA compliance across Search, Chrome, and Google's virtual assistant globally. He brought the same habit to AI policy work soon after, building the Taxonomy of Social Benefits in AI for Google's Chief Legal Officer, now part of the company's high-risk AI governance review, and writing the standards Google uses to keep people from projecting human psychological states onto LLM-based products, work that has since informed Search's AI-Mode policies.

He now runs GraspingAI, a human-AI systems research studio and strategy practice, where he works with organizations on AI strategy, human-AI interaction, UX research, and evaluation. That follows years of research leadership across Google and Meta: a year at Meta's Reality Labs building Horizon Worlds' first standardized World Quality Framework across more than five UGC creation products, and, before that, Future of Work research alongside a widely cited Human-Automation Teaming framework built for Loon's stratospheric balloon program that reshaped aerospace interface design and regulatory language. Earlier still, he led UX research programs at Native Instruments, Entertainment Partners, Karten Design, and Lextant, across music software, entertainment logistics, healthcare, and Fortune 500 product design. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Fordham University, where his dissertation built an enactive theory of perceptual emotion, the same embodied-cognition thinking behind his co-authored book, An Introduction to Embodied Mind: Thinking Outside the Head (Routledge, 2026). He also taught inclusive design and immersive media as an adjunct instructor in the School of Journalism, Communication and Immersive Media Studies at the University of Oregon from 2024 to 2025.

AI & UX Research Experience

    • Leads AI strategy and research engagements focused on evaluation, human-AI interaction, product quality, and decision-making under ambiguity.
    • Builds lightweight decision frameworks that help product leaders evaluate AI investments by more than usage metrics
    • Advises organizations on AI product strategy, human-AI interaction, and decision-making under ambiguity, translating cognitive science and HCI research into product strategy and leadership decision support
  • Google,Staff UX Researcher, Search UX & Minding-AI
    • Developed standards for mitigating user projection of psychological states onto LLM-based products, now informing Search AI-Mode policy, and created the Taxonomy of Social Benefits in AI for Google's Chief Legal Officer, adopted into high-risk AI governance review
  • Google,Staff UX Researcher, Choice Lab
    • Led global UX research across Android, Chrome, Play, and Search shaping Google's Choice Screens launch for Digital Markets Act compliance, and built the company's measurement framework for "choice," now the foundation for evaluating compliance globally
  • Meta, Reality Labs,Staff UX Researcher
    • Created the first standardized World Quality Framework for Horizon Worlds, adopted across the product development lifecycle, while leading UGC creation research across 5+ products and founding the Reality Labs xPA Creator Research Group
  • Google,UX Researcher
    • Created a globally influential Human-Automation Teaming framework at Loon LLC that shaped aerospace interface design, regulatory language, and job-role definitions, alongside Future of Work research that shaped UX roadmaps across Google's hardware, software, and spatial design teams
  • Native Instruments,UX Researcher
    • Authored Native Instruments' Global Research Strategy and founded WAVLAB, the company's center of excellence for research and innovation, while leading research for Sounds.com, Metapop, Native-Instruments.com, and The Loop Loft
  • Entertainment Partners,User Experience Research Lead
    • Formalized UX research processes and expanded the practice across the organization, partnering with cross-functional teams to define success metrics and improve UX maturity
  • Karten Design,Design Researcher & Strategist
    • Led multi-client research initiatives across healthcare and medical device domains, delivering process maps, opportunity frameworks, and research-backed product strategy
  • Lextant,Senior Associate, Human Centered Design
    • Led research programs for Fortune 500 clients including GM, SiriusXM, Honda, and Teleflex, designing qualitative and quantitative studies, usability tests, and Agile/RITE cycles

How I think about AI evaluation

The frame you use to describe an AI system determines what you think you need to measure about it. Call it a "tool" and you evaluate efficiency. Call it a "collaborator" and you evaluate trust and shared intent. The evaluation method is usually fine; the definition underneath it is what I try to make explicit first, because that's where most AI product teams are making assumptions they haven't examined yet.

Areas of expertise

AI evaluation & human-AI interactionResponsible AI governance & high-risk assessmentHuman-automation teamingPolicy-aware UX & regulatory measurementDecision frameworks for ambiguous product strategyEmbodied & extended cognition

Courses Aaron teaches

Credentials & Education

  • PhD, Philosophy
    Fordham University
    MA 2010, MPhil 2011 en route
  • BA, Philosophy & Psychology
    SUNY Stony Brook
    Magna Cum Laude with Departmental Honors

Honors & training

  • Certified Design Sprint Leader
  • Chair, American Philosophical Association Committee on Non-Academic Careers

Body of work

Connect

New to the Institute?

Start with Beyond Prompting: Building AI Infrastructure for UX Research.

Enroll in Beyond Prompting
Created with