DIGITAL ORGANISMS
What if... artificial intelligence enables us to create digital experiences inspired by living organisms? Hmm… Ok. What do I mean by that?
It's well known that all man-made designs are inspired by nature. The airplane is inspired by bird's wings. High-speed trains are inspired by bird's beak. Full-body swimsuits are inspired by shark skin. You get the idea. We're not even close to beating nature at its perfect craft. Besides the mathematical perfection of these perfectly created organisms, they have one more advantage: adaptation. Now, should we care about these in our digital world? According to Darwin’s well-known theory, the fittest organisms thrive and survive. This is also true for businesses; the most adaptable ones endure in the long run.
Now, these businesses adapt based on the needs of a large population. The larger the mass and the problem they have, the bigger the impact, the bigger the revenue, and the success of the business.
This has been true for many decades. Now, this approach is an industrialized way of designing user experiences. It’s soulless, similar to an assembly line: linear, non-adaptive, and systematized. Like mechanical physics. Concrete. True. Just there.
That’s good, but not necessarily future-proof. While the problems are solved, the technical solution has become a commodity. Now everyone can replicate it. Perhaps not with the same success, but the concept has been created. The way it's solved becomes the new game. Better. Optimized. Improved. Meanwhile, these also become the norm after a while.
Another good example is from the clothing industry. Let's think about it for a second. Fast fashion has democratized trending clothes, giving everyone access to the latest trends. However, this availability also reduces the value and leads to the depersonalization of human uniqueness. This taps into our ancestral need to be seen and validated. In response to this trend, the custom clothes niche offers an answer to our externally manipulated desire to be different and unique.
Customization is on the rise across all industries. From custom clothes to custom cars, houses, or jewelry, people start investing in these things once they earn a certain amount of money. We want to be seen and to stand out. And this is perfectly fine.
Now, what does this have to do with AI and digital applications? Well, it’s so well-known in the design world that the word "empathy" has become overused. It’s so commonly used that it has lost its true meaning. Today, marketers and designers use it to describe marketing campaigns or user interfaces that are designed to convincingly make people believe they genuinely need the product or service being promoted. And that’s perfectly fine.
Empathy. A nice world, but it’s often used in its dark side. We developed algorithms to adapt to users' needs with the goal of increasing engagement, time spent, and revenue generated. I believe an emphatic user interface means more than that. It can be used to truly help the people we build for. And here comes the artificial intelligence.
Think of your everyday apps as living organisms. A living organism is constantly adapting, improving, and repairing itself. It doesn't wait for the next developer update, release, or technological disruption. Instead, it becomes an intuitive digital entity that listens to your needs. Not to trick you into spending your attention, money, or time, but to solve your problems, understand your needs naturally, and adapt accordingly. Think of your digital interaction as an adaptive, natural way to communicate with your devices and applications. These should not be built to solve just one issue, but to understand you. Adapt to your needs, as a truly digital companion would do. This seems more like quantum physics — a digital companion that has multiple states with different features, and all of them can be accessed based on the user's needs.
This is what truly empathic experience looks like. Let's hope it happens in this crazy AI era.
Best,
George