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When artificial intelligence (AI) entered the mainstream as a consumer tool late in 2022, it felt like a big-bang event to many casual observers. The truth, of course, is that AI has been in development for decades.
Tools such as ChatGPT and StableDiffusion seemed to appear fully formed out of nothingness, were quickly embraced by consumers and made headlines as pundits speculated about their potential impact on this industry or that.
AI technology is now advancing at an incredibly fast pace, with breakthroughs in machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision being made regularly. As AI gets better, more industries are exploring how to apply it to enhance their operations and services.
Chatbots, virtual assistants and other AI-powered apps are everywhere. The idea of AI may still feel like a novelty to some consumers, but whether we have been aware of it or not, most of us have been using AI-powered devices in our daily life for some time. You’ve probably already realized that AI will transform your work and your industry. The only question is how.
As product innovators, we thrive on technology and believe in the potential of AI to push the boundaries of research, design and engineering. But we are still in the technology’s Wild West phase. Important guardrails have not yet been developed to address the limitations of AI and the risks of AI-supported product development.
There is a lot we do not yet know about the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, but as we explore how current tools might best align with and enhance our design methods and processes, we can see potential benefits in the following applications:
- Offloading Human Limitations. AI can assist in areas where humans fall short, such as juggling large amounts of information, detecting subtle correlations and completing repetitive tasks efficiently.
- Providing Starting Points. AI tools can help jumpstart the design process by providing boilerplate text or initial concept ideas.
- Augmenting Human Judgement. AI can analyze data and project requirements to provide insights and recommendations and assist in strategic decision-making. However, care should be taken to “sanity-check” its outputs.
- Gut Check. AI can assist in identifying potential product flaws and highlight areas for improvement, to allow adjustments to be made before product launch.
To be very clear, AI is not a substitute for human judgment. While AI can generate varied ideas, provide valuable insights and perform analysis quickly, the human product development team must still guide and direct AI’s exploration and output. It is still incumbent upon the human team to interpret AI output based on context, human experiences in the world and best practices in the field of product development.
What Might Collaboration Look Like?
The product development process is a complex and dynamic journey that involves multidisciplinary team collaboration. Throughout the process, each disciplinary team tackles various tasks: research and interpretation, opportunity identification, concept development and selection, engineering analysis and final design refinements. The entire process must also meet key objectives regarding standards of innovation, quality and efficiency and adhering to budget restrictions.
With new AI tools emerging daily, trying to keep up with how AI might enhance our process can feel overwhelming, but it’s an exciting and important challenge. Our job is to proactively align AI tools with proven design processes to begin an intentional, purpose-driven collaboration.
We’re finding that AI functions as more than just a tool for automating mundane tasks. In fact, AI can serve as an inspirational collaborator, sparking ideas and spurring creativity. At the same time, it can process large amounts of information efficiently, highlighting key insights and helping to accelerate the development process.
AI can bring value to three areas of the product development process:
- Insights and Strategy. Human researchers play an indispensable role in establishing a personal connection and trust with our research participants, but AI can serve as a co-pilot, assisting with tasks such as discovering granular insights and improving understanding of the big picture.
- Design. By leveraging AI as a collaborative brainstorming tool, designers can expedite and diversify the idea generation and iteration process. With human designers’ guidance, AI can generate and instantly visualize new ideas, then swiftly explore possible variations, ultimately enhancing design outcomes.
While AI can aid the visual design process, human designers remain essential in infusing design thinking and empathy into the process to ensure that the resulting products meet user needs and deliver an exceptional user experience.
- Engineering. Much of the value of AI within the engineering process of product development would come from improving process efficiency. For example, AI can automate tasks, propose new design approaches, analyze material options, test prototypes and make recommendations based on project parameters.
With AI support, engineering teams would also iterate more quickly and be able to make design refinements in real time. In addition, AI will help engineers identify and eliminate risks related to safety and human factors. This would not only reduce the likelihood of product recalls but would improve user satisfaction as well.
We believe that AI has the potential to revolutionize product development, not just by making the process more efficient and accurate, but by supporting human creativity and boosting our understanding of user needs. By leveraging the power of AI thoughtfully and responsibly, we will be better able to create innovative products that meet the needs of our clients and end users — and do so faster and more cost-effectively.
This article was originally published on delve.com. Visnu Fraenkel is a Former Senior Industrial Designer and Rahul Kamath is a Senior Design Researcher at Delve.
