“Human in the loop” is often treated as sufficient oversight for autonomous systems. The harder problem is whether operators can meaningfully comprehend, supervise, and intervene once autonomy begins operating at machine speed and organizational scale.

DoD acquisition reform increasingly speaks the language of design, but the actual practices are still absent from implementation. For human-centered design to meaningfully influence the next generation of defense systems, designers need to engage not just with products, but with the acquisition structures defining how those products get built.

AI capabilities will be increasingly embedded within mission-critical workflows, with operators being asked to trust those systems to carry out their missions. Trust calibration is an emerging UX imperative, and defense needs to treat trust design as a formal requirement rather than an engineering afterthought.

Autonomous systems promise faster decisions, but without thoughtful design, they risk overwhelming their operators. In this interview with Breaking Defense, I explore how human-centered design can—and should—play a critical role when it matters most.

In the world of defense, design must be more than aesthetics. It must focus on how things work when it matters most. Great design helps people make the right decisions faster, under pressure, and with trust in their tools. Here, we’ll examine why and how.