CHIWORK paper: GenAI must augment, not replace, human-centered design

A new position paper from arXiv (2608.07482), accepted to the CHIWORK 2026 Workshop, tackles a pressing question in human-computer interaction: as generative AI speeds up design work, are we losing the human-centered core? Author Issam Alzouby draws on HCI coursework, design activities, and AI-assisted workflows to argue that faster production does not automatically produce human-centered design. The paper positions GenAI not as a replacement for traditional methods, but as a co-thinking partner shaped by human goals, ethics, cognition, and accountability.

Alzouby warns that as AI systems become more capable, traditional human-centered design (HCD) principles become more important, not less. Users still bring limited attention, mental models, trust issues, and cognitive biases to interactions, while GenAI adds new risks like over-reliance, de-skilling, shallow reasoning, hallucination, and reduced accountability. The future of HCI should therefore focus on human-AI collaboration that preserves human agency, critical thinking, and responsibility. The 4-page paper, featuring one figure, offers a timely framework for researchers and practitioners navigating AI-augmented design workflows.