AI in UX

Let's talk about AI in UX Design!

Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, is a sort of umbrella term used for technologies that enable a program to do tasks that a human can do. There are lots of different examples of artificial intelligence, and the technologies are rapidly becoming better every year. AI uses technology like machine learning and natural language processing to learn behaviors and produce solutions (Accenture, n.d.). AI can be categorized into two major categories: narrow, or weak AI; and general, or strong AI (Accenture, n.d.). General AI does not exist yet, and it is "like what you see in sci-fi films" – a fully realized intelligent form that can do everything a human can do and more (Accenture, n.d.). Since General AI doesn't exist yet, Narrow AI comprises all the AI we interact with now, from the TikTok algorithm to ChatGPT (Accenture, n.d.). AI can be used in lots of ways to aid UX designers. One particularly helpful way to use AI for UX design is for user research and persona building (Hannah, 2023). Artificial Intelligence can help designers go through large quantities of data quickly, and write up conclusions based on the data. AI can also help UX designers write copy, and ideate for projects (Hannah, 2023). There are many ways to use AI to your advantage as a UX designer.

AI is not perfect, although sometimes ChatGPT might seem that way. Unless you pay for the premium version, ChatGPT only runs on a data set that goes until 2021. This means that any research GPT 3.5 helps you conduct is not using updated data, and you may receive incorrect or outdated information. This is why people should always double check the info they get from AI.

There are many ethical debates about AI. One that is very relevant to designers is whether you have the rights to claim work done by AI as your own. For example, some people ask GPT to write them an entire article, post it online, and then name themselves as the author when they didn't do the writing themselves. Is this responsible? I don't think we have all the answers to that question yet. I think as designers, we should be careful moving forward that we use Artificial Intelligence as a tool but not as a replacement to doing our own work.

I think we're at a really important time in history and we have the ability to help shape the future in positive ways with AI. In my opinion, one of the most important best practices for how we should use AI in design is to credit where we used it. I don't think there's anything wrong with using AI as a tool to help us do our work, and in fact I think everyone should be using AI as a tool. However, I think it's important to be transparent about where you used AI in a finished product.

References

Accenture. (n.d.). Artificial Intelligence. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/artificial-intelligence-summary-index.

Hannah, Jaye. (March 22, 2023). 7 Ways UX Designers Can Use AI to Their Advantage. DesignLab. https://designlab.com/blog/how-to-use-ai-as-a-ux-designer.