Unlock the potential of your business with the combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and User Experience (UX) design.
From improving customer satisfaction to boosting revenue, discover how these cutting-edge technologies can elevate your brand in this informative article. We'll delve into the benefits of AI and UX design and provide practical strategies for implementation.
Robots vs human work
In today's world, we see driverless cars, delivery drones, smart thermostats, algorithms that understand your favorite movies, TV preferences and much more... The AI revolution is only beginning!
The reason AI is growing so fast is that it simplifies tasks that would take longer for humans to perform, allowing us to concentrate on creativity issues and empathic aspects of tasks. That is, AI helps us do what we do best: creativity. On the other hand, we are terrible at processing huge amounts of information and AI is in charge of it. As good as it sounds, where humans fail is where artificial intelligence thrives.
The main characteristic of AI is that it’s capable of processing huge amounts of information, finding patterns and making reliable predictions regarding specific behaviors. Under this approach, the main food of AI is information, and it depends on the amount of data we can find on the internet. Fortunately, information is abundant in the digital world.
In fact, every time users interact with a system, it generates data and every time a system interacts with another system, it generates even more data. But what does this mean for us? Will we lose our jobs? Is it good? Is it bad? AI is already helping us design experiences that are more humanlike and make more informed design decisions for us. As a result, they increase the effectiveness of processes and even improve the user journey. It can be a huge advantage for humans and businesses.
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The real value of combining artificial intelligence and user experience
Artificial intelligence and UX design became two essential pillars for the improvement of user's quality of experience. AI is the future of UX, and this is a reality users experience every day in products and services such as social networks or online shopping. And we, as designers, should integrate AI into our work as soon as possible.
Currently, AI is present in algorithms that learn through training how to solve real-world problems and it doesn't replace human work. On the contrary, it facilitates processes that normally require more effort, displacement and time. The idea is to give users a better perspective in decision making and offering strategic solutions with creativity.
An example of AI + UX use is chatbots, which automate communication channels. As a consequence, with much less staff, chatbots attend to suggestions, requests and complaints with immediate responses. This is a constant learning process, which starts with a specific question from the bot and then, the user's answers. This is a process that feeds AI, obtaining data that allows the machine to analyze all the information and predict scenarios.
Today it’s common for people to interact with systems and conversational technologies, in which the responses of machines are increasingly natural. The challenge is to naturalize their communication because many times these automated systems slow down the UX with programmed responses, which end up forcing the user to limit themselves.
For example, Google is developing a software called Google Duplex that will work on UX, through assisted AI for restaurants and stores. This assistant will perform specific tasks such as requesting appointments and making reservations through natural conversations. The communication is so real that it is difficult to notice that there is a machine on the other side of the phone.
In the following video, you can see a demo of a conversation with the Google Duplex AI assistant. It's astonishing how real it is!
As you can see, the implementation of AI can catapult companies to increase their revenues, profit margins and optimize processes. That’s why brands are already using AI to increase their performance, and industries such as marketing and sales are using AI massively.
To illustrate this point, let’s check what big companies do with AI:
● Netflix. Netflix makes custom movie trailers to engage viewers by studying their behavior and choices.
These algorithms choose posters that match your taste and demographics. In other words, Netflix uses your search history and the content you viewed to make accurate recommendations. It makes us live in a bubble in which we only have content related to our own tastes but it increases engagement (Becominghuman).
● Starbucks. Starbucks uses an algorithm to build customer's history. It takes into account their orders, the temperature and even, what users normally want.
With AI, Starbucks improved the quality of customer service by offering customized experiences and recommendations. Through the automation of processes and without the need of replacing baristas with machines, Starbucks allows its employees to better connect with customers while the AI System is in charge of the inventory, staff rotation, order taking, among other robotic activities.
This way, the company turned this technology into an important long-term business model, strengthening ties with their customers, with the premise that personalized attention creates a connection.
● Disney. Disney is evaluating an AI software that tracks audience reactions such as facial reactions in real-time when people watch their movies. Actually, If the audience laughs, cries, falls asleep or does nothing but eat popcorn without paying attention to the movie; the AI will take note and relate reactions to scenes to find out if the audience likes the movie.
The results of this research will help Disney in its future movies, as they will analyze the audience, their behaviors and their reactions. Disney claims that these findings will help them comprehend the viewer’s emotions and reactions for predicting purposes. If they know what emotion their viewers would have in different parts of a movie, they can make customized movies for any gender, background, location, etc.
Indeed, according to experts, Disney will use this technology to test the films before they release them, and make final edits based on the positive reactions of viewers who watched the film before. The technology could also lead to "sensitive storytelling," in which the story changes depending on the reactions of the audience.
● Amazon. Amazon Rekognition is an AI software based on facial recognition. It is able to identify any object or person that appears in images or videos.
In detail, it’s a facial recognition tool, image and video analyzer. But not only that, Amazon ensures that the Rekognition API (Application Programming Interfaces) is capable of identifying objects, people, text, scenes, emotions, activities, as well as detecting inappropriate content.
For instance, it detects emotions in images like happiness, sadness, surprise, etc; to generate periodic reports. In addition, Amazon Rekognition identifies thousands of objects (eg, bikes, phones, buildings) and scenes (eg, parking lots, beaches, cities). Similarly, it identifies potentially inappropriate or unsafe content in videos and images and offers customized labels that allow you to control what you’d like to watch based on your tastes. Besides, you can quickly identify celebrities in images or videos to catalog footage and photos for marketing and advertising purposes.
Other AI uses for improving UX and your life
1. Personalization by learning and prediction
In the last few years, marketers took AI as a primary tool to achieve their goals. That is, AI allows marketing professionals to determine the consumer’s taste, and then, offer personalized services.
Therefore, companies strive to know their customers well. The main objective is offering products or services they need based on their own searches and information collected.
This personalization of customer experience using intelligent algorithms that detect successful patterns and learn trends are the future of marketing and you should learn how to apply this technology in your business to serve your customers in the most efficient way possible.
2. Voice recognition
Siri and Alexa are examples of AI softwares that understands you. They are useful for transcribing and transforming human language into formats that your devices can understand.
● Siri is Apple's voice recognition system and smart assistant that helps you do things by asking.
You can use a natural language with Siri and speak to it with spontaneity. But Siri is not one-way software. It speaks to you and shows you possible actions and answers to your questions... And of course, you can dictate to Siri just by clicking on the microphone icon that appears on the virtual keyboard.
● Alexa is Amazon’s virtual assistant and it works like Siri or Google Assistant. It will listen to your commands and Alexa will give you an answer.
Alexa functions depend on two key elements. On one side, the voice commands offer a great variety of requests and answers to many questions. For example, you can start by asking for information about the weather, or just general information about certain products. On the other hand, it has functionalities such as setting alarms, reminders, timers and video calls between different devices.
Additionally, softwares like Dragon Naturally Speaking and Google Voice Recognition are also great as AI tools:
● Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a voice recognition software that allows its users to speak into a microphone and translates spoken words into text. No need to type as it will take care of all writing just by voice commands after some training.
● Google voice recognition. Google uses accurate voice recognition to make the relationship between AI and UX more satisfactory. It uses Google's most advanced algorithms to recognize speech in more than 125 languages to help you in all kinds of tasks such as navigating the web or dictating your emails and texts.
3. Virtual assistants
Its main use is customer service and the administration of smart homes. These are just a few ways virtual assistants can help you. It only represents the tip of the iceberg in this ever-growing world.
In fact, AI and virtual assistants provide many solutions to users like buying, setting alarms, read our schedule, make phone calls, program the route without having to take your hands off the wheel, etc.
Particularly, it’s interesting how virtual assistants help us control the configuration of our homes. Lights and air conditioners are entering the segment of devices with internet connections, and now, you just have to open your Google Home application to see more and more connected devices available as apps.
Use robots to offer a more human experience! (as paradoxical as it sounds)
Technology is changing us in ways we hadn't anticipated, and the world is rapidly moving towards a more robust and reliable AI machine based-system. This means that we have another tool at our disposal to create memorable experiences for users. As a consequence, it’s important to embrace these technological changes. Not be afraid of them.
Technology powers all businesses, whether small or large. And AI is one of the most important components of the broad spectrum of emerging technologies that surround the digital world. In short, AI is an opportunity to rediscover and redefine what makes us human.
Interested in learning more? Contact us. We’ll listen to you and take care of your business and look for new strategies for growth!
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