AI partner could be a major industry in the future, which people potentially seek the human and robot relationships. However, there will be lots of consequences due to this topic. Major impacts like laws , moral norms, economy booming and potential wastes. People have to really think of this topic before they set up the whole industry, because the consequence might be good and bad in the same time, what I think of future wheels is if they started at the beginning, they can never stop, we will get to the point no matter you like or not, the only thing you can do is to accept it as well as having solutions to deal with these. I wish we can have a chance to having human and robots relationships, because that will be a miracle.
In my opinion, interaction designers have a critical ethical duty to ensure their work with AI prioritizes user well-being, trust, and fairness. The responsibility includes
Transparency: Clearly explain AI capabilities, limitations, and decision-making processes to users.
Privacy: Safeguard user data, ensure informed consent, and minimize data collection.
Bias Mitigation: Proactively identify and reduce biases in AI models to ensure fairness across all user demographics.
Autonomy: Design systems that empower users with control over AI interactions and avoid manipulative tactics.
Accessibility: Ensure AI-driven interfaces are inclusive and usable for diverse populations, including those with disabilities.
Accountability: Anticipate potential misuse and design safeguards to protect users from harm.
Sustainability: Assess the long-term societal and environmental impact of AI integration
Pace Layers, a concept from Stewart Brand, describe how systems evolve at different speeds, influencing interaction design’s lifecycle. Fast-changing layers, like technology and fashion, drive frequent iterations in design trends, tools, and user expectations. Medium-paced layers, such as governance and infrastructure, shape usability standards and accessibility compliance, impacting long-term design strategies. Slow layers, like culture and nature, provide a stable foundation, influencing timeless design principles like inclusivity and ethical considerations. Interaction design work must align with these layers, balancing agility in adapting to fast changes while maintaining consistency and foresight to address slower, enduring societal and environmental shifts.
For my idea is Virtual Reality Field Trips. Which is VR field trips replace or complement traditional educational outings in the future. Imagine students could explore historical landmarks, dive into the depths of the ocean, or even visit distant planets—all without leaving the classroom. These experiences would be guided by AI-powered instructors, allowing for real-time interaction and tailored learning experiences. This idea redefines educational access, making transformative experiences available to every student regardless of geography or budget. It also challenges traditional teaching models, prompting educators to embrace technology while addressing potential issues like screen time, infrastructure, and equitable access.
I believe that interaction designers should take ethical responsibilities to end users when incorporating AI into their designs:
Transparency Responsibility: Ensure that users understand the capabilities and limitations of AI. Clearly identify AI-generated content and inform users when they are interacting with AI (such as chatbots).
Fairness and Unbiasedness Avoid introducing algorithmic bias or discrimination into the design. Review sample diversity during the data training phase and test the fairness of AI across different populations.
Explainability Design AI outputs that are easy to understand to avoid misleading users.
Avoid Dependence and Manipulation Prevent users from over-relying on AI or being manipulated by the system. (Such as a false sense of scarcity).
Accessibility and Ubiquity Ensure that AI tools are fairly available to all user groups, including people with disabilities.
By taking on these ethical responsibilities, interaction designers not only protect the interests of users, but also promote the healthy development of AI-human interaction and build a trustworthy technology ecosystem.
Pace Layers is a framework proposed by Stewart Brand to describe the speed of change at different levels and their mutual influence. In the life cycle of interaction design, pace layers can reveal how design work evolves with changes on different time scales, thus affecting the rhythm and focus of the entire project. The pace layer is divided into multiple levels, the common ones include nature, culture, governance, infrastructure, business and fashion
Fashion layer Fast change: influence design trends, such as UI style. Promote conceptualization and visual design to quickly adapt to user expectations.
Business layer Fast: Determine market needs and goals (such as conversion rate), drive early prototype development and user testing.
Infrastructure layer Medium speed: The underlying technology limitations affect design decisions in the development and deployment stages.
How to affect the interaction design： Definement stage: Fashion and business layers drive trend insights, governance and culture layers ensure that the design is in line with values.
Design stage: Business and infrastructure layers limit design feasibility, and fashion layers enhance user appeal.
Development stage: Infrastructure supports implementation, governance ensures compliance.
Maintenance phase: The infrastructure layer determines the update rhythm, and the cultural layer affects long-term adjustments.
The pace layer shapes the rhythm and priority of design through changes at different speeds during the interaction design lifecycle. Understanding the dynamic relationship between these layers can help design teams better balance short-term market needs and long-term user value, thereby creating sustainable design results in a rapidly changing digital environment.
Automation and collaboration in the workplace AI will accelerate the automation of many tasks, especially repetitive and data-intensive work, such as data processing, customer support, and production line operations. This may lead to a reduction in some traditional jobs, but it will also create new jobs.
Personalized services and life optimization The application of AI in daily life will enhance personal experience, such as customized health management, seamless integration of smart home systems, and more accurate recommendations of educational resources. These technologies will make our lives more efficient and convenient, but may also require more digital literacy and privacy awareness.
Redefinition of creativity and culture AI creative tools (such as image generation, text creation, and music creation) will be further developed, giving artists and creators more possibilities. These tools may redefine “creativity” itself.
And from the exhibition, we can see that the earliest electronic devices were all huge devices without exception. But as the times developed, these devices became smaller and smaller, making them easier for people to carry. For example: from early giant computers to the advent of Apple.
The history in the exhibition tells us that technological change is a double-edged sword, bringing both opportunities and risks. In the next decade, we need to not only embrace the potential of artificial intelligence, but also think deeply about how to develop and use these technologies responsibly to ensure that they serve the long-term well-being of humanity.
Behind this question lies an important mission: how to shape the future of our coexistence with artificial intelligence?
Vertical farming means growing crops in stacked layers inside cities, using special systems that don’t need soil, like hydroponics. It helps produce food locally and reduces the need for transportation.
I think that interaction designers have an important job to make sure their designs are safe, fair, and respect users, especially when using AI. We need to be clear about how AI works and how user data is used. It’s also important to avoid biases so AI works equally for everyone, and to protect people’s privacy. Also, We should focus on helping people make decisions with AI. They should think about how the technology might be misused and build in protections. Overall, designers should make sure technology helps people in a way that’s respectful and trustworthy.
From a social perspective, YouTube can promote global cultural exchange and integration. Users in different regions can learn about diverse cultural customs through video sharing and viewing. And make remote work and online education the norm. As a result, the boundaries between home and work are blurred, the development of social skills may be limited, mental health problems increase, and cultural conflicts decrease.
From a technological perspective, it promotes video technology innovation, widely uses big data and artificial intelligence, and expands new video interaction technologies (AR/VR). This will prompt the continuous updating of tools and improve advertising efficiency, but it will also cause users to worry about privacy violations. At the same time, it will also lead to an increase in technical patent disputes, so the industry needs to establish more complete technical standards and intellectual property protection mechanisms.
From a political perspective, it has become a new front for disseminating political information and public opinion guidance and can be used as a tool for citizens to supervise the government and political participation. At the same time, it will also face different political regulatory requirements in various countries. Secondary consequences: increased platform operating costs, increased risks of political rumors and false information dissemination, and improved government transparency and accountability.
From an environmental perspective, it consumes many electricity resources and promotes environmental awareness. However, it will produce carbon emissions and face ecological pressure, so it is necessary to invest in green data center technology. Video dissemination will drive more ecological protection actions and volunteer activities.
From an economic perspective, it will create a large number of economic benefits for creators, become an important global advertising platform, and drive the development of related industries. Secondary effect: changes the employment structure, but it may also lead to a widening income gap among creators. Let the advertising industry innovate, improve advertising effect evaluation and service quality, and increase employment opportunities.
Designers also need to maintain user autonomy, avoid influencing user decisions through dark modes or excessive persuasion, and ensure that users can customize or choose not to use AI recommendations. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the safety and mental health of users, prevent the negative effects that AI may cause (such as misleading information or addictive behavior), and design corresponding protection mechanisms. Responsible for the results of AI, providing user feedback channels, allowing for questioning or correction of AI decisions, thereby establishing user trust and promoting the sustainable development and rational application of AI technology.
I believe that when integrating AI into design, interaction designers need to ensure transparency and fairness. Enable users to understand the working principle and decision-making basis of AI systems, while protecting user privacy, minimizing data collection and ensuring data security, and avoiding the abuse of user information. In addition, bias and discrimination in AI systems should be avoided to ensure design inclusivity and meet the needs of users with different backgrounds and abilities.
The Pace Layers framework divides the design system into layers with different rates of change, helping designers understand the evolution of each layer over time. In interaction design, rapidly changing UI styles and interaction trends determine short-term updates, while slower changing user behavior, culture, and technological infrastructure affect long-term stability. Designers need to find a balance between responding to trends and maintaining consistency, such as updating interfaces without compromising underlying technology and user experience.
Through Pace Layers, designers clarify the roles of each layer: fast layers are suitable for continuous optimization, medium layers need to consider compatibility, and slow layers lay the foundation for design. By using this framework, designers can effectively respond to changes, develop innovative and sustainable design strategies, balance short-term innovation with long-term stability, and enhance user experience.
As interaction designers, we have a huge ethical responsibility to ensure that the products and systems we create prioritize the well-being, rights, and trust of our end users. With the integration of AI into our work, these responsibilities become even more important. AI is powerful, but it also comes with risks like bias, privacy concerns, and potential misuse, which we need to address thoughtfully.
First, we need to prioritize transparency by designing systems that clearly explain how AI makes decisions. Users should understand why they’re seeing certain recommendations or outcomes and have the ability to question or override them. Second, privacy and data protection must be at the core of what we design. Collecting data is necessary for AI, but it’s our job to ensure that it’s used responsibly and stored securely, with user consent at every step. Lastly, we need to considerbias and fairness in AI systems. Since AI often reflects the biases in the data it’s trained on, we must work to identify and reduce those biases to create systems that are equitable and inclusive. By taking these steps, we can build technology that empowers users rather than exploiting them.
The iPod and iPhone completely changed our relationship with technology by making it more personal, portable, and user-centered. The iPod put “a thousand songs in your pocket,” showing that technology could fit seamlessly into our everyday lives, while the iPhone expanded this idea by combining multiple functions—phone, music, internet, apps—into a single device. They introduced intuitive touch interfaces, making technology more accessible and easy to use for people of all ages. This shift made technology feel less like a tool and more like an extension of ourselves.
For interaction design, this changed everything. Designers had to prioritize simplicity, usability, and emotional connections in their work, knowing that these devices were always with users. The introduction of gestures, multi-touch, and responsive interfaces redefined how we interact with screens. Today, this legacy pushes us to think about designing for even more personal, adaptive, and seamless experiences across devices. It’s not just about creating functional products but designing systems that truly fit into people’s lives and enhance their daily routines.
Web 2.0 was all about making the internet more interactive and giving users the ability to participate instead of just consuming content. This meant introducing features like commenting, liking, sharing, and uploading, which made platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Wikipedia possible. Technologies like AJAX and APIs were key because they allowed real-time updates, like refreshing a feed without reloading the page. The focus was on creating a space where people could interact, share ideas, and collaborate.
Today, things are way more advanced. Interactions are now smarter and more immersive, thanks to AI, real-time collaboration tools, and even VR/AR. For example, AI predicts what you want to see or do, voice assistants let you interact without typing, and augmented reality blends the digital world with the real one. Instead of just participating, we’re now co-creating and interacting with systems that adapt to us in real-time. The jump from Web 2.0 to today is like going from writing letters to having live conversations—it’s all faster, smarter, and way more personalized.
This question is both exciting and challenging because technology is evolving at a rapid pace. From what I saw in the Computer History Museum’s exhibit on chatbots and artificial intelligence, it’s clear that AI has penetrated many aspects of our daily lives . . enabling humans to focus on the creative, strategic and interpersonal aspects of their work. Artificial Intelligence replaces repetitive and mechanical human tasks. As an interaction design student, AI-driven design tools that speed up prototyping or generating design ideas are tools that can increase efficiency and help us focus on more human-centered design work. It is a future collaborator for designers. However, this shift means we need to adapt, learn new skills for working with AI, and rethink traditional career paths to fit. While AI can act as a collaborative partner, enhance human creativity, and may reshape the way we work and live by increasing efficiency and personalization, I think it will also present us with many societal challenges! Imagine the ubiquity and scope of AI in the future, what will happen to society if AI starts to dominate user decision-making?
For designers, writers or anyone else who needs to think creatively and empathetically, people who need to think. It may be possible that AI becomes his assistant, maybe it might take over their brains.
I think the current situation, AI is unlikely to be fully applied to design work, more as a rapid generation of effects, provide a library of subjects or auxiliary tools role. Although it does improve efficiency, the real core of design still needs to be controlled by people. As mentioned before, the development of AI is currently imperfect, with issues of trainer bias and possible copyright infringement involved with data sources. These issues not only affect the reliability of AI, but also make us need to be more cautious about the scope of its use. Overall, I think AI is a great tool, but creativity and judgment in design still cannot be replaced.
A machine learning-powered personal health assistant app that provides tailored health advice, tracks fitness goals, monitors health data via wearables, and predicts potential health risks based on user-specific data trends.
After walking through the Computer History Museum and seeing all the old tech, from early computers to the evolution of AI, I couldn’t help but think about where we are now—and where we’re heading. At the end of the chatbot and AI exhibit, there was this question: How will AI change the way we work and live in the next decade? It stuck with me.
Looking at how fast technology has grown, it’s clear AI is going to have a huge impact. But what does that actually mean for us?
AI is already changing work, and it’s only going to go further. Right now, it handles boring, repetitive tasks, like data entry or scheduling. In the future, I think it’ll become more of a partner—helping us brainstorm ideas, solve problems, and even make decisions.
Imagine designers using AI to quickly create prototypes or writers using it to polish drafts.
Jobs won’t necessarily disappear, but they’ll change. Instead of doing the same tasks over and over, we’ll focus more on creative and strategic work.
In our daily lives, AI will probably feel even more personal.
Smart homes will actually know you. Your house might adjust the lights, temperature, and music based on your mood.
Health tech will go next level—AI could track your health in real time and even predict issues before they happen.
Entertainment will feel custom-made. Imagine Netflix not just recommending shows but creating content based on what you love.
The Big Picture
Looking back at the tech in the museum, it’s clear that change happens fast. Just a few decades ago, we didn’t even have personal computers, and now we’re talking about AI running entire workflows or helping doctors save lives.
In the next 10 years, AI won’t just be a tool we use—it’ll feel like a part of our lives. The key is finding a balance: using AI to make life easier without losing control of what matters most.
So, how do you think AI will shape your world? It’s exciting, a little scary, but definitely something worth thinking about.
Ever wonder why some parts of design work feel like they change every day, while others barely budge? That’s where Pace Layers come in. Originally from Stewart Brand, this framework breaks systems into layers that evolve at different speeds. Here’s how they affect the lifecycle of interaction design:
Fashion/Technology This is the surface-level stuff—UI trends, new tools, and frameworks. They’re exciting but short-lived. Think of flat design vs. neumorphism. Stay aware of trends, but don’t overcommit.
Commerce Business goals and market demands evolve slower but still shift regularly. For example, prioritizing personalization in apps because it boosts sales. Designers must adapt while maintaining consistency.
Infrastructure This includes design systems, usability standards, and codebases. These layers are more stable, forming the backbone of design work that supports rapid changes above them.
Governance Policies and platform guidelines move at a crawl but have lasting effects. GDPR, for instance, changed how we think about user privacy—long-term impact, not a quick fix.
Culture/Nature The deepest layers. Human cognition and cultural norms evolve over decades. Timeless design principles, like simplicity and clarity, live here and remain central regardless of trends.
Why It Matters
Good interaction design balances these layers. Trends keep work fresh, but stability and cultural alignment make it meaningful and lasting. Recognizing these layers helps us prioritize what matters most for designs that stand the test of time.
