Challenge:

Microsoft needed to move from interpreted findings to design-ready understanding: what young people would actually want AI to do, how it should behave, and where human support still matters.

Approach:

IC convened Microsoft researchers and youth participants in live co-design sessions. Together they reviewed AI use across IQ, EQ, SQ, and AQ; named current limitations; worked in small groups; and used shared visual jam boards to create conceptual AI tools around usability, integration, tone, personalization, and support.

Solution:

This gave Microsoft employees direct access to youth reasoning and turned the research into actionable product hypotheses. The process created shared language that changed AI development conversations.