Ethics, Education, & Ethnography in Conversational AI

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In this episode of Unprompted, we sit down with Dr. Liz Rodwell, anthropologist, UX researcher, and Associate Professor of Digital Media at the University of Houston, to explore how education, ethics, and ethnography shape the way we design and teach conversational AI. Liz brings years of research across classrooms, labs, and cross-cultural fieldwork to show why human insight still matters in an era of large language models.

We talk about how teaching design mirrors teaching AI, what cultural awareness means for globally deployed systems, and why the future of conversation design depends on thoughtful, critical, human-centered practices.

This episode also covers:

How LLMs are changing the skillset conversation designers need today
Why empathy and communication are still essential—even when models get “smarter”
The value of ethnographic research for uncovering cultural blind spots in AI systems
How educators and learners can help AI better understand nuance, context, and intent
The evolving relationship between design craft and model behavior
How to stay grounded in ethics while working in fast-moving AI environments
Why teaching AI to “listen” starts with teaching humans to notice more
Practical ways to bring cultural and linguistic sensitivity into real-world AI projects

Whether you’re entering the field, teaching others, or looking to design more thoughtful AI experiences, this conversation offers a grounded look at how culture, context, and human insight can shape the next generation of conversational systems.

Dr. Elizabeth Rodwell is Associate Professor of Digital Media at the University of Houston, where she directs the User Experience program and UX Lab. Her interdisciplinary research examines the intersection of technology and society, with a focus on the human role in technology design. Her recent monograph, Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan (Duke University Press, 2024), explores how media professionals respond to technological change, censorship, and misinformation.

Dr. Rodwell is currently conducting fieldwork among designers who shape the voices of conversational AI. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, and Social Science Research Council.