Towards A Process Model for Co-Creating AI Experiences

TL;DR

This paper explores a collaborative design process for AI experiences, emphasizing the use of data probes to define AI properties and co-create AI-powered applications through a new process model.

Contribution

It introduces a novel process model for co-creating AI experiences, highlighting the role of data probes in facilitating designer-engineer collaboration.

Findings

Data probes help define AI material properties.

Designers construct representations of AI experiences.

Data probes support divergent thinking and validation.

Abstract

Thinking of technology as a design material is appealing. It encourages designers to explore the material's properties to understand its capabilities and limitations, a prerequisite to generative design thinking. However, as a material, AI resists this approach because its properties emerge as part of the design process itself. Therefore, designers and AI engineers must collaborate in new ways to create both the material and its application experience. We investigate the co-creation process through a design study with 10 pairs of designers and engineers. We find that design 'probes' with user data are a useful tool in defining AI materials. Through data probes, designers construct designerly representations of the envisioned AI experience (AIX) to identify desirable AI characteristics. Data probes facilitate divergent thinking, material testing, and design validation. Based on our findings, we propose a process model for co-creating AIX and offer design considerations for incorporating data probes in design tools.