Designing human-shaped artificial intelligence

With a rising amount of media attention and a sevenfold increase of investment, artificial intelligence (AI) is on the agenda of businesses in all industries, who are identifying the massive potential with this kind of technology. From chatbots and

biometrics, to speech recognition and self-driving cars, there’s still work to be done when it comes exploring how AI can be used to solve people’s existing problems in new ways.

Design sits at the forefront of the drive to develop innovative everyday AI solutions that people find intuitive and easy to use. To pave the way for successful AI implementation, companies must consider creating experiences with AI that are less artificial and more intelligent, and most importantly, those that make AI more human-shaped. This is where design comes in. Designers possess the skills to create a world where everything is designed around real human needs.

It is vital to understand the importance of constructing AI to address daily issues for consumers, and it must be approached in the same way as any technology or problem is dealt with, by starting with the ‘why?’. Through the mapping of the problem, to ideation, to eventual prototyping, the most successful products all link back to detailed research insights, which solve real human problems.

There are new skills for a typical designer to develop when it comes to designing AI enabled products and services, but also some existing ones which are already fit for purpose. For example, when designing for voice, this is not only about the speech technology, but also skills such as scriptwriting, roleplaying and personality design. By collaborating with others, and using techniques such as these, human-computer dialogue can be prepared and then voice technology can be prototyped and tested in a way that users would interact with the product.

In order to tackle complexity in the range of AI technologies and applications, and to address real human needs, a business must look to multidisciplinary collaboration when it comes to the design and implementation of this type of technology. A recent example of this in practice was carried out at Designit. The team hosted a 3-day design led event focusing on artificial intelligence within the workplace.