UserTesting Becomes Auros: Building the Human Intelligence Layer for AI

This just in: UserTesting is becoming Auros.

In this CR CX Convo, Constellation analyst Liz Miller sat down with Johann Wrede, CMO of UserTesting, to unpack this hot-off-the-press announcement and what it signals about where the company is headed.

This is more than a name change. Auros represents a broader vision for the role human intelligence can play in the AI era.

UserTesting and User Interviews are not going away. Johann was clear that the company remains committed to those products and the UX research community. Instead, Auros expands the portfolio and the mission beyond traditional usability testing.

From testing software to shaping AI

The shift makes sense when you consider how the interaction model is changing.

For years, UserTesting helped companies answer questions like: Does this screen make sense? Can someone accomplish what they need to accomplish?

But what happens when there is no screen?

With an AI agent, the interaction may simply be a conversation. The bigger question becomes whether the agent can deliver the right outcome and whether the experience feels right to the person using it. That requires a different kind of human insight.

Johann describes Auros as moving toward becoming part of the infrastructure that helps make AI applications better, while continuing to invest in UserTesting as an important part of that portfolio.

AI needs more than more data

One of the themes Johann and Liz kept coming back to was data.

AI reflects what it learns from. If the underlying data contains bad assumptions, incomplete perspectives or poor examples of how something should work, AI can carry those problems forward. The answer isn't simply feeding AI more information.

It's giving AI better information from people who actually have the expertise.

A radiologist brings a different level of expertise to an X-ray than someone who simply knows how to read one. A procurement expert brings a different perspective to procurement than someone who has scraped the internet for everything related to procurement.

That distinction between experience and expertise becomes increasingly important as AI moves into more specialized work.

Human intelligence moves upstream

Traditional research can sometimes feel like a final checkpoint. Build something, test it, find the problems, and iterate.

AI requires us to rethink that model. Human intelligence can become part of the process from the beginning, helping train models, validate outputs and make sure agents behave the way they are intended to behave.

That is a significant shift. We're no longer just asking people to tell us whether an AI experience worked. We're asking them to help define what good looks like in the first place.

Common sense isn't actually common

One of the best parts of the conversation was our discussion about “common sense.”

Because whose common sense?

A procurement leader in New York may bring a very different perspective than someone working in procurement for an NGO in Africa or for a manufacturing organization. Those differences matter.

If AI is going to operate across industries, cultures, and communities, we need more than a generic definition of "good". We need diverse perspectives, verified expertise and a better understanding of what good judgment actually looks like.

Johann sees that human network as a key part of the Auros vision.

From usability to human intelligence

This is ultimately what makes the Auros announcement interesting.

UserTesting built a business around understanding how humans interact with technology. Auros is taking that idea much further.

As AI becomes more capable, the human questions become harder, not less important:

• Is the AI accurate?
• Is it behaving as intended?
• Does it understand the context?
• Can we trust the people and expertise behind its training data?
• And what does the experience feel like for the human on the other side?

AI may be changing the interface, but it isn't changing the importance of understanding people. If anything, it makes that understanding more important.

UserTesting is becoming Auros. The name is changing because the opportunity is getting much bigger.