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We’re all busy integrating AI into our lives and the products we build. One thing that is clear is that AI adoption by users is not guaranteed; there’s emerging data that far more people use general models as a novelty rather than incorporating them into their day-to-day activities. This is not surprising and to be expected. The challenge is: how do you get the tools you’re building to be locked into users’ lives over the tools others are building?

Optimization vs. Adoption

For years, outside of those building new products, most UX professionals have been focused on optimizing mature systems. We’ve been laser-focused on refining workflows, polishing interfaces, and enhancing usability to deliver smoother, more intuitive user experiences. Optimization has undoubtedly played a crucial role in improving user satisfaction, engagement, and performance.

However, with the advent of AI, we are now facing fundamentally new workflows and outputs. AI doesn’t just enhance existing processes; it transforms them, often creating entirely new modalities of interaction. This requires a pivot of mindset from optimization to growing adoption—ensuring users embrace these new tools.

Delivering Success Through User-Centric Design

To successfully embed AI into our tools, I think we should prioritize user adoption. This involves designing experiences that are not just functional but deeply intuitive and engaging. We need to create environments where users feel confident and excited to explore these new technologies.

I’d argue that with AI, excitement is there. Confidence, however, is a composite of factors, including consistency, predictability, and successful outcomes. Of these, the latter is, I think, the most important for encouraging repeated use.

So, AI-powered tools need to deliver successful outcomes to encourage adoption. What success looks like will be different for every product, but ultimately, it matches the phrase, “I easily got the output I was expecting.”

Continuous feedback loops remain critical

Many of the adoption workflows are similar to optimization workflows. They are both iterative processes. Establishing continuous feedback loops ensures that we are attuned to user needs and challenges. Regularly soliciting and acting on user feedback allows us to iteratively improve the AI experiences we design, fostering greater trust and satisfaction.

A new priority but the same priority

Focusing on adoption is a new priority for many, but the true focus remains on those using the products we build. It’s just that the best thing we can do to support users as AI rolls through is to create systems that guarantee success in order to drive the adoption of this exciting new wave of technological advancement.

Here’s a list of interesting things I read in March.

1. Unleashing the power of data visualization in music debates

Imagine walking into a bar and sparking a conversation by contemplating, “What defines the greatest album of all time?” This exercise in subjectivity resonates with many, yet often dissolves into the mumblings of agreeing to disagree. Enter The Pudding, an online journal that doesn’t just start these debates — it arms you with the sharpest stats to win them.

Have a gander: What makes an album the greatest of all time?

2. Exploring Negative Capability

Developed by John Keats, ‘Negative Capability’ is the ability to exist in a state of intellectual uncertainty and mystery. Lack of resolution does not disturb the mind in pursuit of the truth. In the backdrop of tech’s relentless push for definitive solutions, this essay by Ness Labs was a welcome respite for those swimming in the sea of innovation.

Read it: Negative capability: how to embrace intellectual uncertainty

3. Google, Gen AI, and publishers

A recent Adweek piece revealed Google is paying some in the digital publishing world to experiment with an unreleased Gen AI platform. Google is investing so much in so many areas, it’s hard to keep up!

Check it out: Google is paying publishers to test an unreleased Gen AI platform

4. The AI Learning Labyrinth: Selective Forgetting

The success of artificial intelligence often becomes a rabbit hole of datasets and forgotten inputs. Quanta Magazine’s piece on selective forgetting in AI learning really stood out. The crux of the essay pivots on the hypothesis that pruning excess information can actually clarify model learning.

Read the essay: How selective forgetting can help AI learn better

5. BBC AI usage guidance

Trust is the lifeblood of any media organization, and the BBC, with its responsibility to inform the public, wields it with the gravity it deserves. With Artificial Intelligence seeping into the editorial process, the corporation’s Guidelines on AI Usage aren’t just another rulebook; they’re a benchmark against which to reflect on our own

Scan the guidelines: BBC guidance: The use of Artificial Intelligence

6. Balancing the bias in Generative AI

Adobe shares its thinking about how to reduce biased and harmful outcomes from generative AI. The piece went beyond the token acknowledgment of AI biases, offering a blueprint that advocates for a combination of cultural competence, transparent development, and ongoing monitoring.

Understand Adobe’s approach: Reducing biased and harmful outcomes in generative AI

Here’s a list of interesting things I read in Feb.

1. Semfor Signals uses AI to balance news reporting

The advent of AI in the newsroom is a double-edged sword, promising efficiency but raising concerns about skewed narratives. Enter Semafor Signals, an interesting approach that aims to relay reports without bias. This AI-powered system sifts through mountains of data, using contextual and emotional analysis to try to present news that’s transparent, balanced, and resistant to algorithmic biases. It’s not drawn me into becoming a regular Semafor reader, but it might do in the messy election cycle that’s ramping up.

Check it out: Introducing Semafor Signals

2. Will AI limit human intelligence?

A deep, reflective piece questioning whether AI is beginning to cap human cognitive aspirations. This philosophical musing makes a compelling case for the perpetual undervaluing of human intellect and emotion. Taking a critical lens to AI’s relentless march, the author argues that while we’ve grown adept at creating efficient machines, we’re at risk of suffocating the essential elements of humanity: creativity and empathy.

Dive in: AI Limits Human Aspirations

3. Tyler Perry on AI and Hollywood

An indication of the big shifts that might hit Hollywood as AI’s inexorable rise sparks fear and innovation in equal measure. Renowned filmmaker Tyler Perry’s candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter is an eye-opener. Sharing how AI has affected his creative process, he holds up a mirror to the industry, which faces the unnerving prospect of algorithmically driven scripts and algorithms determining box-office gold. AI’s impact on film production isn’t a distant prospect—it’s now.

Read up: Tyler Perry’s AI Alarm

4. TikTok’s Trends Report

In the epoch of TikTok, storytelling has found a new canvas—and a not-surprising commercial success. TikTok’s slightly sales-y 2024 Trend Report shows the platform as a narrative powerhouse. Delving into consumer trends, this corporate content doubles as a digestible look into the nuanced art of digital storytelling. Storytellers and marketers should at least skim this.

Peek in: TikTok’s 2024 Trend Report

5. YouTube and the Indian elections

The world’s largest democracy goes to the polls this year. The last election demonstrated the impact of WhatsApp as a campaigning tool. This piece from Rest of World looks at YouTube’s rising prominence in the current campaign. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you want to spot interesting social media innovations, look for it in campaigns.

Dig deep: India Elections 2024

6. Pew’s latest data on social media in America

Pew’s comprehensive report shines a light on the latest shifts, trends, and takeaways from how Americans use social media. It remains one of the most useful datasets to understand, at a broad level, which social media channels remain part of the lives of different demographics. There’s little to surprise but much that reaffirms what we already know.

Uncover insights: Pew’s Social Media Use Data

7. An ode to the 404 page

Have you ever wandered into the digital void, landing on a page that doesn’t exist, only to be greeted by a nondescript error message? Imagine if, instead, you were met with wit, comfort, or even an unexpected piece of art. I loved and shared with many people this exploration of 404 pages, those digital cul-de-sacs we occasionally find ourselves in.

If you read one thing, read this: The Art of the Error Message

In digital, speed is synonymous with strength. Website owners have long been told that site speed is crucial for SEO and overall user satisfaction. A new source of urgency is emerging: the rise of performance-hungry AI technology.

Lighter web pages aren’t just a technical requisite. They are the foundation for delivering a seamless user experience amidst the AI revolution.

The Era of Instantaneity

If you’ve ever been on the Eurostar, hurtling down the tracks at thrilling speeds, you know how frustrating it is when the train slows to a crawl and then grounds to a halt. Much like crawling to Paris, today’s websites are often bogged down by hefty-sized pages, resulting in the erosion of speed, performance, and ultimately, user engagement.

I love creating fancy things for the web. Yet, every line of code, every image, and every feature I place on a webpage weighs it down a little more. We’re serving webpages to more powerful machines through faster connections but we’re about to start delivering truly performance-hungry tech and that’s going to have an impact.

As new technologies like AI and machine learning algorithms are embedded on websites, we will need to understand the trade-off between functionality and performance. These capabilities, while groundbreaking, are voracious in their appetite for resources. A lean website is paramount for AI’s peak performance.

Speed and Beyond: A Matter of User Experience

As I’ve demoed new AI functionality to those not obsessed with tech, a common refrain has been, “Why is it taking so long?” Speed is now a locked-in expectation. Just as we expect to get from London to Paris in two hours, we expect things immediately to happen on the web.

This is not just about loading times. It’s about how users feel when navigating through the digital realms we create. A lag here, a buffer there – these moments, though seemingly minuscule, are where frustration brews and engagement drops.

Subtle yet profound, the heavy toll of slow and bulky websites becomes more evident with each passing day. It’s not simply a metric to appease search algorithms; it lies at the heart of the experience of every curious soul who clicks on a link searching for knowledge, connection, or service.

Embracing Simplicity

It’s time to rediscover the art of subtraction. Through the lens of simplicity, let’s begin to reimagine the web spaces we create.

We should create experiences that marry the beauty of simplicity with the depth of AI.

Much like a gifted architect refrains from cluttering spaces to allow inhabitants to fill them with life, we must craft web pages that leave room for technology to breathe and perform. We need more piazzas and fewer malls.

Weaving It All Together

As we stand at the frontier of a technological revolution, our principles and practices must evolve as well. Weaving the tapestry of a lighter web requires meticulous attention to detail, a spirit of innovation, and a willingness to question legacy decisions.

Ultimately, I need to practice what I preach. Over the coming weeks, I’m going to get into the weeds of my simple WordPress site and whittle away the unnecessary elements to make it much lighter. Whoever runs your website should probably do the same, too.