The Next Generation of Designers Will be AI Designers

Paper

This presentation explores the intersection of AI and design education. Narrow AI, or AI which can only perform small tasks very well is here. Over the next years every modern occupation will include AI in one way or another. Designers have the opportunity to shape the workforce of tomorrow. With this presentation I aim to provide a vehicle for critical discourse on design education and the value of AI in modern society.

Takeaway

  • I will introduce the audience to a framework for mapping AI experiences.
  • The audience will understand the implications of AI in modern occupations and the role of design in shaping their future.
  • I will introduce the "AI Designer"

Abstract

AI will be part of almost every human activity. Sometimes it will automate tasks for humans. Sometimes it will augment human tasks by providing real time information that otherwise would be impossible for humans alone to acquire. The success of an AI system depends on the quantity and quality of the data that is available for training the AI. This data is already available in a growing number of industries, hence the accelerated adoption of the technology in many occupations.

Available data and technology will not be the only factor to speed up adoption of AI into a wider range of occupations. Experience design will play a bigger role when the novelty of the technology wears down. Users will have bigger expectations. They will clamor human-like interactions. Trust will become the ultimate quantifiable measure of adoption. Designers will be responsible for designing this trust. They will design the rules that govern the machine, and the principles to guide their interaction with humans.

For the foreseeable future, AI will be narrow. It will not replicate human intelligence. Instead, it will take over small tasks. For example, AI is now capable of understanding and speaking natural language with increasing accuracy. It can identify concepts in images and video with a higher precision than humans. It can find hidden relationships in data. What narrow AI can't do, is replicate the complexity of the human brain. However, with the few technological advances it has, AI can take part of many tasks in almost every occupation. The challenge for designers is to find these tasks. They need to define the role of AI in helping humans achieve their goal. If AI is to become a technology that will aid humans in their everyday life, then the designer responsibility is to make this relationship work.

This presentation explores a framework I created as part of the curriculum for the advanced experience design course I teach at Texas State University. The course focuses on teaching graduate students how to define the experiential journey between narrow AI and humans. It provides designers the tools to create innovations that would help humans achieve better goals. It offers a platform for students to articulate and question the value of AI. Students engage in critical conversations about workforce automation, society, politics, and culture. Design becomes a transformational tool to shape the future of humankind.

I lead more than 40 designers creating AI experiences at IBM. My team and I do not have all the skills to design AI. I have observed the same problem from designers working for IBM clients. This presentation aims to open a conversation with the audience. How can we prepare design students to shape the future of occupations if they do not have the skills? What are the skills needed to design trust? relationships? language? Is higher education in design failing the next generation of user experience design professionals?