AI for IA (and UX and Content Strategy)

Tutorial Workshop

There is an absolute truth about AI and that is artificial is always a pale comparison to the real thing especially when intelligence is involved. If you’ve noticed in increase in attention from the SEO down the hall, it is because Google has determined that UX is the most SEO-proof ranking influence for search results.

If you’re Stephen Hawkings (or Elon Musk and others), you believe that artificial intelligence brings with it doom and destruction. IF you’re Forbes magazine AI will merely redefine the enterprise. Most important, if you’re Google, you see its AI product RankBrain as the culmination of a goal to deliver the right information to the right people from the entire corpus of online information whether on sites, devices or structured depositories for the best experience.

However, this is not the experience that we design for. It is UX that is calculated, not observed. It is predicted based on past behavior rather than informed by human understanding. It is determined by machine intelligence rather than guided by collaborative design thinking. Information Architects have always recognized the essential role of the user. To be successful, IA must work for people. But as artificial intelligence and machine learning increase in power and prevalence, how can we ensure that technology serves human needs, and not the other way around?