Blog Post Writing Sample
This blog post sums up my thought process and research around when and how to implement AI solutions through the element I believe to be most cruital: bringing an empathetic, user and customer-focused lens. The intent was to demonstrate the company perspective on building AI software people can trust.
Empathy 101: Designing for Humans in the Age of AI
People who have consumed any form of media over the past few months will have heard the veritable mountain of issues with artificial intelligence (AI). Though not a new technology, the gusto and hype with which large language models (LLMs) leapt into the mainstream over the past year caused an inevitable flurry of cynicism (a.k.a. Gartner’s Trough of Disillusionment).
If we take these criticisms from a design thinking and user experience lens, we may come to realize we’re at a crossroads when it comes to designing this now-popularized technology in ways that will truly serve users.
As an example of this philosophy, in the paper Design in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Roberto Verganti reminds us of how crucial user experience (UX) is when bringing new technologies to market: “Rather than being driven by the advancements of technology and by what is possible, design-driven innovation stems from understanding a problem from the user perspective, and from making predictions about what could be meaningful…” This design-driven innovation process can ensure we’re building towards delightful experiences instead of the horror stories often caught in headlines.
Let’s explore some possible ways empathy and user-centered design show up in AI product design.
Ability to Explain Decision Making
The first way AI products can be designed with users in mind is to empathize with a user’s desire to know how decisions are made. This is especially true in complex domains, and explainability can be central to usability and delight. In many use cases, a black-box output is simply not a sufficient basis on which to make decisions. This is particularly true when that decision has downstream consequences or impact on others.
For example, one can look at the medical insurance industry and see the consequences of using black-box AI to reject certain medical claims automatically. This AI auto-rejection or claims review process may also confuse internal company users, who may not understand why a claim was rejected. Even for systems that do not auto-reject claims but instead flag claims, oftentimes, there is no explanation for why a claim or provider was flagged. This is a case where empathy for users and end-users should dictate the necessity of baked-in explainability. We should also recognize that explainability may not always be enough, and in cases where that’s true, providing context-aware AI in which a user can more easily examine the circumstances around a decision when necessary.
Human-AI Communication
A second way we can design AI products with greater user empathy is to involve the user in co-creating the outputs they need. In this model, the AI product becomes an assistant to the user instead of the other way around.
An example of this type of involvement is user feedback loops, where a user can review a system’s output and provide feedback on the quality, correctness or accuracy of the output in real-time. This could potentially raise early red flags in cases where large language models experience model hallucination and even “snowballing.”
Involving the user in co-creation could also show up as reimagining how a user interacts with outputs, such as creating an intuitive Conversational Visualization, where complex analysis is made more accessible to users of differing technical expertise.
AI Where Users Need It
Part and parcel of the idea of involving the user is the assumption that user research is conducted and AI is being applied to the right use cases. This brings us to a final way we can empathize with users as we develop AI products: to recognize that AI should be thought of as augmented intelligence.
Augmented intelligence means building towards a future where AI can complement users’ abilities and help them grow in areas where they need additional support. Shifting to a user-centric perspective means empathizing with users’ fears and feelings about AI. This entails finding creative ways to design AI methods and applications to rise above the Trough of Disillusionment into delightful experiences designed for humans above all else.
Originally published on Bordo AI blog
Profile Story Writing Sample
This feature story was developed around the student organization I served in and later became president of. I completed all of the research and interviews as part of this process.
A life lived for dance
When Kate Germain Kromann was 2 years old, she entered a small room with a mirror-covered wall. There were strange pieces of wood horizontally attached to the wall, something she had never seen before in her young life. Little did she know that that dance studio would set the course for the rest of her life.
A tall and lanky child, Kromann found that dance taught her grace and coordination, in addition to pirouettes. Her form was perfect for ballet, something she came to adore.
Kromann took as many classes as possible, and soon started competing her dance routines. The schedule was demanding, and most nights of the week were spent inside that small room with mirrors and bars.
When she was about 13, a teacher recommended that Kromann start taking pointe classes. In the dance world, this transformation from dancing ballet on soft slippers to dancing on the tips of your toes in a hard wood-spined shoe is a revelation. In no time, Kromann began twirling around the studio, her whole weight on the tips of her toes.
When recital came, she strutted onto the stage in a midnight blue tutu. Kromann looked more like a snowflake twisting and twirling its way to the ground than an actual dancer. As she finished the routine, the audience roared.
High school was a blur of dance classes, performances at Friday night football games with her dance team and dance competitions. In the process, Kromann racked up trophies bigger than her and brought enormous joy to those watching.
When she turned 18, she was met with heart-crushing news: Kromann’s scoliosis was worsening. She needed surgery to correct the curve in her spine. While the doctor was convinced he could fix the curve in her spine, he remained unsure if Kate would be able to dance again. In this tough time, Kate turned to God with thanks for the time she was able to spend dancing thus far.
A year later, Kromann astounded many when she began to dance again. Slowly but surely she eased back into her former dance routine.
Now she was reminded of just how precious the gift of dance was, and she was determined to share this gift with others. In 2003 when Kromann was studying at the University of Missouri –Columbia, or Mizzou, she knew the time was right to share dance with others.
That year she founded Center Stage Dance, a student-run organization with the mission of providing free dance classes to those who cannot afford traditional classes.
Last spring, more than 50 tiny dancers took the stage at Jesse Hall auditorium. Filled with heart and pride, they twirled, leaped and sashayed across the stage. During the final bow, former Center Stage president President Brittany Hackmann made a poignant announcement: Kate, the woman who had founded the organization, had died unexpectedly a few months earlier.
Following Kromann’s death in 2015, her mother Susan Bartel started Kate’s Heart, a non-profit organization that aims to support organizations that involve empowering children. Next spring, Kate’s Heart will make a $1,000 donation to Center Stage.
The donation “is a reminder of how meaningful the organization was to [Kromann] and her vision for Center Stage,” said Wooldridge.
Next spring, this donation will allow the organization to fulfill Kate’s dream of making Center Stage as close to traditional dance classes as possible.
“I think parents and kids alike will find joy in their dance costumes,” said Wooldridge. “The recital will be a lot more professional and comparable to a dance studio's recital with the new dance costumes.”
For ballet, this will look like mini ballerinas in real tutus. For hip-hop, students will wear more than a decorated t-shirt for a costume. For jazz, this will surely include sequins, and for pom-pom class, this will include real, durable poms instead of the current ones made of plastic tablecloths.
Bartel told Wooldridge “[Kromann] loved the look on kid’s faces when they saw their costumes.”
Providing joy through special dance costumes is just one facet of Kate’s Heart. Since founding Kate’s Heart in 2016, the organization has donated more than $30,000 to various non-profits.
According to Wooldridge, Bartel hopes to create an ongoing partnership with Center Stage to help support the organization and to ensure that Kate’s legacy of service continues.