The "AI Effect" on User Experiences
As we increasingly interact with AI-powered products and services, a fascinating phenomenon known as the "AI Effect" emerges. It’s how our familiarity with AI shapes our expectations, particularly when we experience new remarkable AI-driven services.
AI is already woven into our daily experiences, from voice assistants like Siri to personalized content recommendations on streaming platforms like Netflix. These AI-based technologies have become part of our routines, and we rarely notice them as revolutionary, but over time, they have led to a profound shift in our day-to-day expectations.
However, there’s been a fundamental shift; this time, we notice it because we are actively engaging with AI to do something.
Organizations are beginning to offer products and services like this, where users actively engage AI to complete tasks, conduct research, analyze data, and ultimately be more productive.
These new AI experiences set a new standard called the “AI Effect.” Users start expecting the same level of excellence across all their AI interactions.
For example, if your smart home flawlessly manages your environment, you will begin to anticipate similar efficiency in your car. This can lead to newfound frustrations and push you to change to a car brand that offers what you’ve grown to expect. While great as a customer, it’s not great if you’re a business.
This forces organizations to innovate rapidly and, even more so, show an ROI by getting near-instant adoption and proving long-term engagement.
It’s hard enough to build products and services incorporating AI, but the pace will only get faster. Developers and businesses face a crucial challenge in meeting these heightened expectations.
To thrive in this environment, they must:
Prioritize User Experience: Make AI interactions feel familiar and intuitive across any touchpoint a user might access at any given time.
Hyper-Personalize: Tailor AI interactions to individual behavior by leveraging zero and first-party data, ensuring privacy.
Be Transarant: Clearly communicate how AI systems work, their limitations, and their capabilities to manage user expectations.
Continuously Improve: Embrace ongoing development and innovation. What was once revolutionary can quickly become the norm, and while that benefits users, organizations need to embrace a “fail fast” mentality to stay ahead.
This "AI Effect" reveals how our familiarity with AI shapes our expectations but challenges organizations to continually innovate.
In times like these, it takes teamwork and expertise to ensure “failing fast” turns into industry-leading. – and that's where we come in.
