Embedding Intelligence. Designerly reflections on AI-infused products

Artificial intelligence is more-or-less covertly entering our lives and houses, embedded into products and services that are acquiring novel roles and agency on users. Products such as virtual assistants represent the first wave of materializa- tion of artificial intelligence in the domestic realm and beyond. They are new interlocutors in an emerging redefined relationship between humans and computers. They are agents, with miscommunicated or unclear proper- ties, performing actions to reach human-set goals. They embed capabilities that industrial products never had. They can learn users’ preferences and accordingly adapt their responses, but they are also powerful means to shape people’s behavior and build new practices and habits. Nevertheless, the way these products are used is not fully exploiting their potential, and frequently they entail poor user experiences, relegating their role to gadgets or toys. Furthermore, AI-infused products need vast amounts of personal data to work accurately, and the gathering and processing of this data are often obscure to end-users. As well, how, whether, and when it is preferable to implement AI in products and services is still an open debate. This condition raises critical ethical issues about their usage and may dramatically impact users’ trust and, ultimately, the quality of user experience. The design discipline and the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field are just beginning to explore the wicked relationship between Design and AI, looking for a definition of its borders, still blurred and ever-changing. The book approaches this issue from a human-centered standpoint, proposing designerly reflections on AI-infused products. It addresses one main guiding question: what are the design implications of embedding intelligence into everyday objects

AIXE. Building a scale to evaluate the UX of AI-infused products

Despite the diffusion of artifacts integrating AI systems, current UX evaluation methods are not yet prepared nor comprehensive enough to include the unique traits characterizing them. That is the main premise of the [removed for blind review] project, which developed a new method to assess AI-infused artifacts. The contribution traces all the research steps that have been necessary to build AIXE, a specific and comprehensive scale framed as a questionnaire with 33 items, and aimed to support the understanding of the core UX qualities of this spreading technology. Specifically, it presents the three main phases of the research, which include: (i) the exploration of the state-of-the-art of current UX methods and reflections about AI-infused objects, (ii) the identification of dimensions and descriptors (second and first order variables) to construct an attitude scale using mixed methods sharing a human-centered approach, and (iii) the validation of the scale with an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis

Reframing the domestic smartness. Artificial intelligence between utopia and dystopia

With AI spreading in domestic environments, the space of the house can acquire new meanings, functions and unlock new possibilities. The digital realm can pervade physical spaces to better take care of the inhabitants of the house. However, how are private domains going to evolve to embrace the potentialities and changes that AI is offering and play a crucial role in developing our well-being? These practices are at an embryonic phase, and not enough reflections are being made in the design community as they are missing the tools and methods to deal with AI. Nevertheless, the design discipline might translate its expertise into this trending technological field, fostering concrete answers and reasonable solutions for a new way of inhabiting the domestic environment. Accordingly, the primary purpose of this chapter is to stimulate a conversation about this topic in the design community. To drive the investigation and trigger critical reflections, six – more or less – near-future scenarios, in the form Science Fiction Prototypes (SFPs), are envisioned. They are rooted in the convergence of psychology, design, and AI, revolving around theories of emotions to impact human beings beneficially. Then, a survey, including the evaluation of four of the SFPs, is presented to advance the discussion further and pave the way towards a designerly perspective on AI systems for the domestic environment

An In-between Ludic Approach for UX Research: A Case Study

UX research is a still under-defined topic, in which a definite sense for both researchers and practitioners is to be found. In this context, we propose a UX approach to be introduced as an integrative educational method, useful to translate user studies results into indications for the future experience that users will have in relation to the designed product, service or installation. Our approach is based on an early and direct involvement of the user, the scope of which is about letting the designer get inspiration throughout the ideation process. It is imagined to stand in-between the explorational and generative phases of the design process, putting itself in an interstitial space between quantitative or qualitative research, ethnography and co-design, detached analysis and proactive cooperation. In this way, we are trying to go beyond the concepts of human-centred design, towards a design-driven research that makes UX methods and tools meaningful for the designer. The approach is described through a hands-on experience of a student’s thesis work and is purposed to set the beginning of a conversation for future developments

The Domestic Shape of AI: A Reflection on Virtual Assistants

Artificial intelligence is more-or-less covertly entering our lives and houses. In this context, virtual assistants such as the renowned Amazon Alexa and the products that embed them, are the most representative of the first wave of materialization of artificial intelligence in the domestic domain. We focus on these products, studying their tangible form and appearance as well as the interaction modalities of 10 domestic virtual assistants already in the market or close to be. Our analysis highlights two main approaches in terms of shape: on the one hand AI is embedded into common home appliances – usually speakers – while, on the other hand, robot-like assistants are taking ground. Concurrently, we portray a still immature reflection on this issue from a design perspective. We highlight a frequently poor translation of functions into tangible shapes as well as a lack of reflection on interaction design basics, such as: input and output modalities, feedback systems and functions discoverability. The subsequent discussion frames the results in a broader reflection about shape, function and meaning paving the way to alternative paths to follow for the design of future home virtual assistants

A Gestalt Approach to Teaching and Learning by Prototyping

This paper describes a teaching approach used at both Politecnico di Milano, Department of Design and the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. In this teaching approach, students learn about furniture and product design by prototyping a full-size working prototype, in tandem and with the integration of other design methods, in order to better see and learn - underscoring the Gestalt idea: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Different kinds of prototypes are used throughout the design process to verify, as touchstones, every step of the product’s development, providing feedback and suggestions according to shape, function and usability. The paper intends to underline the importance of the prototype in the process of creating artifacts as a practical feasibility of the concept, along with a palette of designers’ tools including sketching, drawing, 3D modelling and 3D printing

Design e AI: prospettive di dialogo

Alla luce delle modalità con cui l’intelligenza artificiale sta iniziando a pervadere la quotidianità, tra incomprensioni, incertezza e diffidenza, è giunto il momento per il design di interrogarsi e intervenire nel dialogo tra le più recenti innovazioni tecnologiche e i loro utenti, assumendo un ruolo di primaria importanza. Al momento, il principale riferimento in quest’ambito è rappresentato dagli assistenti digitali, che hanno superato le fasi di sperimentazione, traducendo il machine learning in oggetti finiti. Sul mercato, infatti, questi prodotti si stanno moltiplicando, destinati a soggiornare nella maggior parte delle abitazioni, tanto che già presentano un trend di vendite molto positivo. In merito, a fronte di un’analisi della letteratura attuale, l’articolo mira a indagare i punti di contatto che fanno del designer un potenziale attore nel facilitare l’interazione tra individui e artefatti o sistemi intelligenti, e dell’intelligenza artificiale un suo oggetto di studio e strumento di lavoro. In particolare, attraverso l’analisi, condotta dal punto di vista del design, di funzione, linguaggio e significato dei prodotti che integrano intelligenza artificiale, si intende dimostrare come i due campi possano essere simbiotici, culminando nella prospettiva di un’interazione non soltanto funzionale e comprensibile, ma anche praticamente ed emotivamente significativa. Ne emerge che il design, e l’interaction design in particolare, già possiede sufficiente esperienza, oltreché molti requisiti teorici, per essere qualificato come mediatore tra intelligenza artificiale ed essere umano, intravedendo nella ricerca di un’interazione più naturale una via per aprire l’indagine e la sperimentazione nella congiunzione dei due ambiti disciplinari, in particolare attraverso la materializzazione e un’empatica focalizzazione sull’utente anziché sulla tecnologia

Design and AI: prospects for dialogue

As artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to pervade everyday life, design needs to raise questions and take a leading role in the dialogue between the latest technological innovations and their users. Through an analysis of the current literature and an empirical study, this article aims to highlight the role designers can assume in this context while AI may become their ideal object of study and working tool. In particular, our analysis on function, language and meaning of products integrating AI, carried out from a design standpoint, seeks to demonstrate that the two fields can be symbiotic, culminating in the prospects of an interaction that is not only functional and understandable, but also practically and emotionally significant. We show that, as well as many of the theoretical requirements, Interaction Design already has sufficient experience to serve as mediator between artificial intelligence and human beings. Pursuing natural interaction, through a tangible materialization and an empathic focus on users rather than on technology, might represent a pathway towards the inquiry and experimentation combining these two disciplines