In a world of AI agents, it’s more important than ever that your digital product is built on solid, inclusive foundations
Surely some revelation is at hand; Jony Ive is back. To die-hard Apple fans like me, this is akin to the second coming.
A legendary designer with a rich history creating products that just work, he’s taking over design at OpenAI. And thanks to a recent lawsuit, the details of the ear-worn device that Jony is working on are in the public domain.
Many (by which I mean Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI) are describing it with passionate intensity as a breakthrough new category, a paradigm-shifting moment on a par with the launch of the iPhone.
The IO device will be powered by AI agents and enable users to do anything they can do with a traditional desktop computer – perhaps even more (if you believe the hype but, realistically, probably quite a lot less).
This begs the question – how do we design for this new paradigm? Surely we’ll need to rethink everything?
Well, no, actually.
It’s not just legendary designers that are making a comeback; some legendary old design techniques are now more relevant than ever.AI agents are just another user
Progressive enhancement and inclusive design allow us to design for as many users as possible. They are core components of user-centered design.
The word «user» often hides the complex magnificence of the human being using your product, in all their beautiful diversity. And it’s this rich diversity that makes inclusive design so important. We are all different, and use things differently.
While you enjoy that sense of marvel at the richness and wonder of your users’ lives, there is no need to feel it for AI agents. These agents are essentially just super-charged «stochastic parrots» (to borrow a phrase from esteemed AI ethicist and professor of Computational Linguistics Emily M. Bender) guessing the next token.
But for better or for worse (for worse) these agents are now using our computers, and we do need to accommodate them as users.
Another AI tech CEO prone to passionate intensity is Dario Amodei (CEO Anthropic) who insists that if we’re going to usher in a new age of abundance, a post-work world where our needs are met entirely by “machines of loving grace,” then these machines will require «all the ‘interfaces’ available to a human working virtually, including text, audio, video, mouse and keyboard control, and internet access.»
The point is, this radical new computer will only be successful if it can interact successfully with the digital services its user needs it to. And that means your website needs to be keyboard and screen reader accessible!Old ideas for a new world
Every breakthrough since we learnt to make fire has been built on what came before.
