IA for Evil

Deceptive patterns. Funnel-maxing. Eliding with labels. Happy paths to dark places. In 2026, more of us than ever are being asked to do our work in ways that collides with our values. In this talk, I’ll give some names to ways that our practice can be co-opted for nefarious, malicious, or at best short-sighted purposes. I’ll give examples and offer some counter-strategies for moving forward, and hopefully be able to bolster folks’ courage to name and resist harmful IA practices.