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Summary
How do you use AI to do more than just “make stuff” and instead make new kinds of experiences? Machine intelligence is your new design material, and radically adaptive experiences are the result. Join Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred, authors of our forthcoming book Sentient Design, for a lively introduction to this emerging generation of intelligent interfaces. Sentient Design describes the form, framework, and philosophy for creating AI-mediated experiences that feel almost self-aware in their response to user needs. In these new experiences, the content, structure, interaction, medium, or posture—sometimes all at once—adapt on the fly to provide the right experience for the individual and the moment. These changes can be small and subtle, or big and dramatic. As you crank the “radical” dial, these experiences include: dashboards that assemble themselves into the best collection of UI elements and content; interactions and interfaces that are conceived on the spot by the user, the system, or both; and entire applications invented whole cloth for the moment. This is not ye olde website anymore. It’s weird and hairy and different from what’s come before. Josh and Veronika will share lots of examples of radically adaptive experiences in the wild, as well as strategies and techniques for bringing this approach to your own practice. You’ll also learn six fundamental shifts in perspectives that radically adaptive experiences impose: from personalized to individualized; from visual to multimodal; from reactive to proactive; from predefined to emergent; from persistent to ephemeral.
Key Insights
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AI should be viewed as a design material rather than just a tool.
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Designers must focus on creating radically adaptive experiences that respond to user intent.
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The Sentient Triangle outlines various types of machine intelligent experiences categorized by groundedness, interoperability, and adaptivity.
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The Pinocchio Design Pattern exemplifies how AI can transform low-fidelity concepts into functional prototypes.
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Understanding the context and intent of users is crucial for effective Sentient Design.
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Machine intelligence can serve as a collaborator, enhancing creative processes rather than replacing them.
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Defensive design is necessary to anticipate and handle potential errors in AI interactions.
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Integration of traditional design practices with new AI technologies can elevate user experiences.
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Emphasizing experiences over artifacts enables designers to create meaningful interactions.
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Collaboration between human designers and AI can lead to innovative, customized solutions.
Notable Quotes
"AI is not just a tool; it’s a new design material that can change how we think about interfaces."
"The goal of good design is to elevate experiences, remove friction, and empower user agency."
"Understanding user intent is key to designing adaptable AI interfaces."
"When we think of AI as material, we can reimagine the interaction surface as an intelligent canvas."
"Instead of just efficiency, we should focus on the quality of user experiences."
"The Pinocchio design pattern turns concepts into reality, revealing the creative potential of AI."
"Designers need to learn to work in partnership with AI, treating it as an active collaborator."
"Defensive design principles can help navigate the uncertainties of AI-driven experiences."
"Let’s embrace machine intelligence as a tool for exploration rather than an answer machine."
"As designers, our responsibility is to shape the future of technology with our values and creativity."
















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