World Usability Day 2026
“Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI”
Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI celebrates the power of human creativity and intelligent technology working together for a better world. This theme invites us to imagine a future where artificial intelligence strengthens global collaboration, uplifts diverse communities, and protects our planet. By embedding ethics into every aspect of AI design, we can ensure that innovation reflects human dignity, cultural diversity, and environmental responsibility. From addressing climate change to advancing equitable access to knowledge, Ethical AI can become a force for collective well-being.Let’s design this sustainable future by bringing human heart and smart AI together—with compassion, purpose, and love for our planet leading the way.
Annual Report 2025 : Emerging Technologies and Human Experience
Dive into our annual report to explore the exciting global events and initiatives we brought to life this year.
World Usability Day: 2025
World Usability Day across the years!
We have been organizing events on the second Thursday in November since 2005.
Over 250,000 people have been involved in events so far, around the world, bringing together different communities to create a more usable world for all of us.
Upcoming Events
November 4, 2026
DISEÑANDO EXPERIENCIAS- TRANSFORMADO VIDAS. - DESIGNING EXPERIENCES—TRANSFORMING LIVES.
DESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WITH ETHICAL AI
Duitama, Boyacá
Colombia
November 12, 2026
World Usability Day Celebrations
SQU, Oman
Seeb, Muscat Governorate
Oman
November 13, 2026
UXPA Austin WUD
UXPA Austin WUD
Austin, Texas
United States
October 20, 2026
WUD Szczecin
WUD Szczecin
Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Poland
November 12, 2026
WUD Bratislava
Designing a sustainable future with ethical artificial intelligence
Bratislava, Bratislavský kraj
Slovakia
November 12, 2026
WUD Rome
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being told through words such as innovation, efficiency and
Roma, Lazio
Italy
November 12, 2026
WUD L'Aquila
📣 The countdown is on: one month to WUD-SIGCHI Italy 2026!
L'Aquila, Abruzzo
Italy
November 12, 2026
WUD SIGCHI Italy
🎙️ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸
L'Aquila, Abruzzo
Italy
November 12, 2026
WUD Austria
WUD Austria
,
Austria
November 12, 2026
WUD Nürnberg
#WorldUsabilityDay on 12.11. at the Ohm User Experience Center in Nuremberg!
Nürnberg, Bayern
Germany
Host City
World Usability Day Celebrations
SQU, Oman
Join us in celebrating World Usability Day 2026 with an interactive showcase by Information Systems students from the Human-Computer Interaction course (INFS4321) at Sultan Qaboos University.
This hands-on exhibition highlights how design impacts everyday experiences. Through creative and engaging demos, students will demonstrate key principles of usability and user-centered design, showing what makes technology intuitive, enjoyable, and effective.
Visitors can explore short, fun activities such as usability tests, app prototypes, interface redesigns, and interactive games, all designed to make HCI concepts come alive. The event promotes teamwork, innovation, and awareness of good design in our digital world.
Host City
UXPA Austin WUD
UXPA Austin WUD
We’re hosting World Usability Day in person in Austin on Friday, November 13. This year’s theme is Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI, and we want our speaker lineup to reflect the range of people doing this work in Austin.
We welcomeseasoned speakers, first-time speakers, and students. The form takes about five minutes.
Apply here: https://tally.so/r/9qbBa4
Host City
WUD Bratislava
Designing a sustainable future with ethical artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work, make decisions, learn, and communicate. The question is no longer just what AI can do, but how to design it to serve people, society, and the world we want to live in.
The theme of this year’s World Usability Day is Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI. Together, we will look at how UX and human-centered design can help create AI products and services that are not only useful and effective, but also trustworthy, inclusive, responsible, and sustainable in the long term.
Why come?
- inspiring stories from practice,
- new perspectives,
- space to think about ethics and responsibility when designing AI products,
- perspectives on building trust between humans and technology,
- where are the limits of automation and where should decision-making remain with humans,
- how AI can contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable world,
- What does human-centered design mean in a time when technology can predict, generate, and decide.
- space for discussion and new contacts in the world of UX.
Who is WUD for?
For UX and product designers, user researchers, developers, product managers, marketers, business people, students, and anyone interested in how technology affects people and society .
You don’t have to be an AI expert or a UX professional. All you need is curiosity and a desire to think about what we create – and for whom.
Come and discuss with us what the future might look like, which we want not only to predict, but also to design well.
If you’re interested in what previous years of WUD looked like, check out the lecture recordings.
Host City
WUD Rome
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being told through words such as innovation, efficiency and
Who defines what is ethical?
Who takes responsibility for automated decisions?
And how can we recognize and address the biases embedded in the systems we design and use?
AI is not just a technological issue. It is also a question of choices, responsibilities and impact on people.
With the 2026 edition of WUDRome, we want to open a space for discussion on these contradictions, starting with a provocation that invites us to question the simplest answers.
we look forward to seeing you on November 12, 2026 at MAM – Media Art Museum, Rome.
For more information: www.wudrome.it
Host City
WUD L'Aquila
📣 The countdown is on: one month to WUD-SIGCHI Italy 2026!
On 12 November, join us in L’Aquila for a morning dedicated to “Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI”, the theme of World Usability Day 2026.
We will explore the connections between AI, people and sustainability: the choices shaping technological development and how to put human needs at the centre of design. An opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences across research and professional practice.
📅 12 November 2026 · From 09:00 CET
📍 University of L’Aquila · Coppito Campus, Italy
💻 In person and online
🎟️ Free participation, registration required
Registration is open:
https://lnkd.in/e78u8XND
🎙️ Who will be joining us? We will start introducing our speakers over the coming days. Follow this page for announcements and programme updates.
The initiative is promoted within SIGCHI Italy’s activities, with the patronage of the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila and its Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics (DISIM).
Event information:
https://lnkd.in/eUqY9-Wu
We look forward to seeing you in L’Aquila. Share the invitation with colleagues and others interested in human-centred AI.
Host City
WUD SIGCHI Italy
🎙️ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸
At WUD-SIGCHI Italy 2026, Antonio Curci will explore this question in his talk:
“𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙤𝙨𝙞 𝙩𝙧𝙖 𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙤 𝙚 𝙄𝘼 𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙪𝙣 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙤 𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙤 𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙚”
(Designing Human–AI Symbiosis for an Ethical and Sustainable Future)
An emerging voice in Human-Centered AI research, Antonio is completing the National PhD Programme in Artificial Intelligence for Society at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, in joint affiliation with the University of Pisa.
His talk will focus on Symbiotic AI: systems designed to collaborate with people, support mutual learning and maintain a meaningful balance between automation and human control. Antonio will present a framework for designing and evaluating these systems, connecting Human-Computer Interaction with software engineering, law and ethics.
📅 12 November 2026 · Event starts at 09:00 CET
📍 University of L’Aquila · Coppito Campus, Italy
💻 In person and online
🎟️ Free participation, registration required
Register:
https://lnkd.in/e78u8XND
Follow us as we introduce the other speakers joining us in L’Aquila.
Event details:
https://lnkd.in/eUqY9-Wu
Host City
WUD Austria
WUD Austria
On November 12, UX communities from across Austria will come together once again to celebrate World Usability Day! From UX Graz, UX Vienna, UX Linz Meetup, UX Salzburg, and UX Vorarlberg to UXPA Austria, IxDF – Interaction Design Foundation, universities (Institut Design & Kommunikation FH JOANNEUM idk, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences / Fachhochschule Kärnten), and many more. Let’s bring the Austrian UX community together! 💜
And just like last year, we’re going fully online, so everyone can join from wherever they are!
This year’s global theme is “Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI.” A topic that raises plenty of questions about how we design technology, who benefits from it, and what responsibility we have as designers. And what better way to explore these questions than by bringing different UX communities and perspectives together?
So, dear Max Scheugl, Martin Kastler, Claudia Oster, Jörg Linder, Christiane Moser, Thomas Grill, Christina Willi, Daniel Öttl, Ani Szammer, Kornelia Müller (Hoffmann), Madeleine Hurst, Jakob Schnurrer, Daniela Krainer, Geanina Turcanu, and Nicolas Saavedra Rueda: Are you joining us this year? 😉
And who else should we get on board? Tag someone or a community that should be part of WUD Austria 2026!
The agenda isn’t ready yet. Neither is our website. 😅
But one thing is certain: WUD Austria 2026 is happening!
📅 Save the date: Thursday, November 12, 2026.
💻 Fully online
🎟️ Registration opening soon!
Host City
WUD Nürnberg
#WorldUsabilityDay on 12.11. at the Ohm User Experience Center in Nuremberg!
Participation is free of charge. Further information and registration can be found on the website of the German UPA https://www.gupanue.de
Host City
WUD Frankfurt
🎤 Speaker Spotlight: Isabelle Launspach at World Usability Day 2026!
AI can deliver hundreds of variations for a button text in seconds. But is that good UX text?
The role of UX writing is changing noticeably as a result of AI. Not by substitution, but by shifting: from pure formulation to classification, evaluation and responsibility.
In her presentation “AI takes notes. You decide.” at WUD 2026, Isabelle Launspach (UX writing expert & lecturer at The Gondola – UX-Writing Kompetenzzentrum ) will shed light on how AI is changing UX writing and why human expertise remains more important than ever.
This is what you can expect in the session:
🔹Classification of AI speed vs. user needs and brand voice
🔹Guardrails for accessibility and product goals
🔹Why convincing AI output can still lead in the wrong direction
🔹Reflection on Ethical AI and Honest Language
The lecture is aimed at everyone who works with language in digital products – regardless of whether they have a UX writing background or not.
📅 12. November 2026
📍 Union Investment (Winx Tower), Frankfurt
i️ The WUD Frankfurt is already fully booked. But: We have set up a waiting list – secure your place there if there are still tickets available.
👉 Registration in the comments.
A big thank you goes to our location and event sponsor Union Investment, especially Stefanie Trampert, Sebastian Schulz and Marc Wolf, who makes this evening possible!
We are looking forward to a strong impulse and the exchange with you! 🧡
Your Orga Team
Aleksandra Skurczyńska, Anna-Katharina Flügge, Jacqueline Steigerwald, Jennifer Wernli, Juri Wan
Host City
WUD Leipzig
🚀 The program for World Usability Day Leipzig 2026 is online!
The time has finally come! The program is set and you can now register for World Usability Day on November 12, 2026 for free. Look forward to exciting lectures and workshops on the topic of Designing a Sustainable Future with Ethical AI. 💡
📍 Location: Universitätskirche Paulinum, Leipzig
📅 Date: November 12, 2026
🤝 Organizer and main sponsor: IT Sonix Custom Development GmbH
Secure your place now and be there for free:
https://itsonix.eu/de/wud/
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