AI + Human Centered Design

Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, AI is one of the most powerful and impactful technological developments of our time. In Bill Gates’ post “The Age of AI has begun” he states: “The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone. It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.” In support of the impact already created, OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, was founded in 2015 and is generating almost $1B annually. The start-up is now seeking a $90B valuation as they enter a new round of funding!

There are plenty of people on the other side of this argument claiming that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity. A recent New York Times article “AI Poses ‘Risk of Extinction’ Industry Leaders Warn” reported that a group of industry leaders considered the societal risk of AI on par with pandemics and nuclear war. An open-letter stating such was released by the non-profit research and advocacy organization Center for AI Safety and was signed by over 350 AI executives, researchers and engineers.

In an essay written by philosophy professor Nir Eisikovits and reprinted by Scientific American, Eisikovits believes that this concern about AI is more philosophical than apocalyptic. The apocalyptic argument follows the reasoning that AI is good at accomplishing goals, but may not do so in a way that aligns with the moral values of the people that created it. This fast emerging “alien intelligence” elicits anxieties that AI may be soon be controlling and destroying the human race.

Eisikovits and his colleagues at the UMass Boston’s Applied Ethics Center note that it is frightening how AI can be used by individuals or organizations with bad intent to influence people’s perceptions as is done regularly with convincing “fake news” publications or to commit cyber-crimes. The author notes that these are significant challenges, and that they require the attention of policymakers to create the appropriate guardrails for this quickly emerging technology.  

Eisikovits argues that the real threat from the current form of AI is how people view themselves. He expresses that this form of AI can degrade essential human abilities and experiences such as the ability to make decisions, enjoy serendipitous encounters and hone critical thinking. I agree with these concerns, but this is where the power of design must be deployed to create positive impact.

I am not a futurist nor a technologist. I consider myself a pragmatist with an expertise in Human-Centered Design (HCD). The primary tenet of HCD is to first identify the core needs of users and then find an appropriate technology to best meet those needs. While core human needs may be fixed in time according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, developments in society and technology are always creating new opportunities to meet these needs in more compelling and effective manners. AI is one of these new technologies that will fundamentally shift the way people live and work in all aspects and sectors of life. In the inspiring latest edition of Reid Hoffman’s LinkedIn newsletter, he announced that he recently invested in eight non-profit tech start-up companies that are using AI to meet the needs of underserved communities.

My belief for the average person is that this technology will be used to augment our everyday decision-making abilities in a positive manner. In a recent Forbes innovation article entitled “Intuition or Analysis? Five Steps for Making Faster, Better, Smarter Decisions”, Steve Shillingford, CEO of DeepSee.ai, notes that there are two distinct methods for making decisions. One process is a slow and meticulous analysis of external data, and the other is an instantaneous intuitive response rooted in our subconscious collection of life experiences. These two methods combined are referred to by the scientific community as dual process theory, and they were popularized by Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow.

In the best-selling book “Blink”, Malcom Gladwwell states: “There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.” Shillingford builds on this and summarizes Gladwell’s perspective. “Intuition is less divine inspiration and more subconscious automation. Though it is experienced as a ‘felt sense,’ it is derived from the forward and backward inferences of millions of data points and their correlation to various outcomes experienced over the course of one's life.” I find this perspective fascinating as it is the basis for the fundamental data-driven capabilities of AI. AI is being used today to help make sense of a seemingly infinite amount of stored data accessible through the web.

In the 1980’s, IDEO Co-Founder and my esteemed mentor, Bill Moggridge pioneered the field of user interaction design (UI) based on the emergence of the graphical user interface tools developed by leading computer researchers in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This was the beginning of computers and the digital era. In the 1990’s, Donald Norman, researcher, professor and author, believed that the practice of UI was too narrow. While working for Apple in 1995, he created the concept of User Experience (UX) that encompasses all aspects of a user’s interaction with a company, its products and services into a seamless experience.

I believe that we are now entering a new era of augmented user experience (aUX). In every aspect of people’s lives from making important decisions around significant purchases, education, career, and healthcare to helping enhance our everyday existence, augmented intelligence will be there to support people as desired 24/7. With the combination of real-time sensors and data tracking, contextual awareness, access to immense relevant data and multiple modes of interaction, aUX will enable people to get meaningful information, at the right time in an appropriate manner to help them make better informed decisions in all aspects of their lives. This opens a vast array of new and exciting opportunities for todays human-centered designers to create meaningful impact in people’s lives.

This is core to the work we do at ZIP Innovations. Please contact us if you are interested in exploring how aUX may enhance your user experience. In the meantime, fasten your seat belts! We are embarking on a wild ride…