Summary:
Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about recommendations for designing AI products and features.
Creating new AI-based features or integrating AI into existing products goes beyond simply adding an AI chatbot to your website. However, adding ✨AI✨ does not magically create value. In fact, in some cases, it’s a huge investment for a relatively small return.
This collection of resources describes measured approaches to deciding whether AI adds value in the first place and gives specific recommendations for designing AI features based on our research.
It’s easy to optimistically talk about AI as something that can swoop in and make anything easier. It’s also easy (and somewhat more gratifying) to skeptically talk about AI as completely overhyped and hollow. Neither approach is unilaterally true. We must give AI a real chance but be willing to call out whenever “the emperor has no clothes on” because it is not making a valuable difference.
The Strategy and Value Proposition of AI
Excited companies chasing after a new technology are not new. In 2021, well before the release of LLMs like ChatGPT, our former CEO, Jakob Nielsen, warned against overinvesting in the promise of the tech without a clear understanding of how it solves real user needs.
There is nothing wrong with seeing AI as a powerful hammer in your toolbox, but there’s something seriously wrong with trying to find a nail to hit with your favorite hammer rather than thinking about what you’re trying to build.
Prompt Assistance
The power of LLM-based AI features is largely mediated by users’ ability to write good prompts. While newer models often yield useful outputs with underspecified prompts, they still cannot read people’s minds. To make matters worse, users don’t always know what they are looking for or what the AI is fully capable of. Thus, it’s critical to support users in their prompting efforts.
Product and Feature-Specific Recommendations
Once you decide that AI can add value to a product or feature, you’d better build it correctly. These resources highlight specific recommendations and observations we’ve made about designing AI-powered products and features well.
State of AI-Product Design
The resources in this section report on recommendations or cautions given at a specific point in time. While some highlight findings that still hold today, others have likely changed as AI’s capabilities have grown and its adoption in the UX field has evolved.