Exploring User Needs in the Future of AI to Uncover Gaps and Opportunities [Part2]
Project Overview:
Over a ten-week collaboration with a major automotive manufacturer (name withheld for confidentiality), this project focused on understanding how engineers, scientists, and faculty from diverse disciplines define a Hybrid Harmonious Society for 2050. The term "hybrid" refers to a society where humans and robots work together to foster the thriving of both society and the environment.
Building on the previous project that laid the foundation, this initiative expanded on earlier insights to deepen understanding and explore new perspectives.
The research began with a series of interactive interviews and culminated in a one-day, in-person design research workshop to gather valuable data and insights. The findings from this project have shared with another department within the company to inform and guide their future initiatives.
Client:
Collaboration with 99P Labs (a partnership between Honda Research Institute USA and The Ohio State University)
Timeline:
10-Week Summer Internship Project (2024)
Team:
Collaborated with a team of six design researchers under the guidance of Liz Sanders
My Role:
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Led interactive user interviews and co-design workshops to gather qualitative insights.
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Developed and facilitated participatory design activities to uncover user needs and preferences.
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Synthesized qualitative data into key themes and actionable design outcomes using systematic analysis methods.
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Used storytelling techniques and visualization tools to translate research insights into future-focused scenarios.
Goals
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Data Collection:
Gather insights from scientists, engineers, and university faculty on the Hybrid Harmonious Society in 2050 through interactive interviews and co-design workshops.
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Insight Analysis:
Analyze and synthesize data to uncover user-centered insights.
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Concept Generation:
Use storytelling and AI tools to create futuristic concepts and projects for the company’s future initiatives.
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Visual Storytelling:
Develop a conceptual video to bring ideas to life (details withheld for confidentiality).
Design Research Steps:
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Preliminary research
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Interactive interviews
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Co-design workshop
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Workshop Analysis
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Scenario Development
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Insights to Innovation
Preliminary research
Our process began with secondary research, drawing insights from a variety of sources, including academic publications, blog posts, social media accounts, and YouTube videos. Given the rapid evolution of information technologies, it was essential to gather knowledge from diverse and dynamic platforms to ensure a comprehensive understanding.
Interactive interviews
Approach: Conducted interactive interviews to explore the visions of the company’s scientists and engineers.
Activities: Designed and facilitated exploratory tasks using Mural boards to engage participants in dynamic discussions.
Interviewees: Held online sessions with 14 scientists and engineers from various countries and locations, ensuring diverse perspectives.
Benefits: The interactive format fostered open and meaningful conversations, enabling participants to share insights that may have been difficult to express in traditional interviews. This approach provided rich qualitative data while encouraging creative and thoughtful contributions.
Interactive Interview Analysis for Visual Communication
The insights from the interactive interviews were analyzed to identify key themes and unique perspectives from the company’s scientists and engineers. These findings were transformed into visual representations to clearly communicate the results to the client.
While the specific visualizations cannot be shared here due to confidentiality, this approach ensured that the client received a clear and organized presentation of the qualitative data, enabling informed decision-making.
Moreover, the activities designed for the interactive interviews played a pivotal role in shaping our approach for the later stages of the project.
Co-Designing the Future with Users:
A Participatory Design Research Workshop
Next, we organized a one-day, in-person workshop to gather insights on envisioning a dream society in 2050. While the primary focus was exploring broader aspirations, one key consideration was how technology could support both humans and nature in this vision.
Participants as Co-Designers
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20 participants took part in the workshop.
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They were recruited with attention paid to their diversity in expertise, gender and age.
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Half of the participants were scientists and engineers from the targeted company.
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The other half were faculty members from The Ohio State University (OSU), representing a wide range of disciplines.
Research Activities for Co-Design Workshop with Participants
Since this was an in-depth and comprehensive workshop with multiple steps, I’ve highlighted only a few of the key activities designed for the research workshop to keep it concise.
AI Involvement Spectrum
Participants, divided into teams, worked together throughout the workshop. For this activity:
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Each participant used post-it notes to place activities (e.g., cooking, dating, taxes) on a spectrum from No Assistance to Partial Assistance to Full Assistance based on how they wanted AI to assist them.
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Blank post-its were provided for participants to add their own activities.
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Green dots were used to mark items where team members agreed.
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Teams reflected on patterns and insights before presenting their AI Involvement Spectrum to the group, followed by a discussion.
Why this activity?
Showed participants the diversity of preferences within the group, helping them understand and appreciate different perspectives on AI and robot involvement.
Served as an engaging icebreaker, sparking meaningful conversations and setting a collaborative tone for the workshop.
This activity uncovered user expectations and preferences for AI involvement, helping us understand behavioral trends and decision-making frameworks.
Clustering AIs & Robots
Participants grouped images of AI embodiments and robots into clusters, organizing them based on categories that were meaningful to their team.
Why this activity?
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The primary goal of this activity was to encourage participants to share their thoughts on the visualizations of AI embodiments and robots, focusing on how they would like these to be in 2050.
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This activity explored user perspectives on AI visualizations and interactions, informing future concepts for human-centered design.
Levels of Social Organization and Collective Dreaming
First, participants worked on four levels of social organization to approach the topic systematically. They explored how individuals belong to various social groups and how these interactions could shape a harmonious hybrid society in 2050.
The second part of the activity, Collective Dreaming, asked participants to create visualizations of a Harmonious Hybrid Society. These visualizations could take various forms, including mind maps, charts, storyboards, or even an informal visual collage.
To support the activity, participants were provided with a comprehensive toolkit containing:
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Visual materials such as images and shapes.
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Provocation cards and questions to inspire ideas.
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Visual frameworks to guide their thinking.
Why this activity?
Encourages participants to think systematically about the levels of social organization, ensuring their concepts address the full range of human needs and aspirations.
Stimulates creativity through the use of diverse visualization methods, allowing participants to express complex ideas in accessible formats.
Provides structure and inspiration with a comprehensive toolkit, making it easier for participants to generate meaningful insights and ideas.
Facilitates collaborative thinking and the co-creation of innovative concepts for a hybrid society.
Workshop Analysis
Workshop materials (photos, transcripts, etc.) were systematically organized and analyzed using a rigorous design research approach. Themes and patterns were identified across the five activities and four teams to generate user-centered insights.
Scenario Development
Using a social levels x geographic levels matrix, we applied scenario-mapping techniques to ideate over 70 user-centered future scenarios. These were categorized to ensure themes addressed diverse user needs and aspirations for 2050.
Insights to Innovation
From this point onward, further analysis and outcomes cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality.
Professional Growth and Reflections
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I developed my ability to conduct interactive online interviews that encouraged open expression and uncovered rich, qualitative insights. This experience enhanced my skills in designing prompts and facilitating co-design workshops that actively engage diverse participants, foster meaningful conversations, and generate actionable insights by balancing structure with flexibility to inspire creativity and collaboration.
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I strengthened my ability to identify patterns and themes across large datasets, ensuring insights were both user-centered and meaningful for decision-making.
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I applied systematic scenario-mapping techniques to translate user insights into innovative and future-focused ideas, bridging research findings to design outcomes.
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I developed skills in using storytelling and visualization tools to translate complex research findings into engaging and clear formats, such as conceptual videos and data visualizations.
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I learned how to present research findings in ways that resonate with stakeholders, demonstrating the value of user-centered insights in guiding innovation.
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Collaborating with engineers, scientists, and faculty broadened my perspective and helped me effectively communicate and integrate diverse viewpoints into research and design processes.
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The most inspiring aspect of this experience was uncovering how deeply user insights can drive bold visions for a Hybrid Harmonious Society in 2050. It reaffirmed my belief that meaningful innovation emerges at the intersection of empathy, imagination, and collaboration—where users’ dreams and challenges fuel designs that shape a more inclusive and sustainable future.
The story builds on from here! Dive into the previous phase of this project below.
Eighteen key themes emerged from the analysis, capturing the participants' values, preferences, and expectations for future experiences. The themes listed here represent their titles, with each theme encompassing more detailed insights and findings that were explored during the analysis.
1. Ethical AI
2. Guardian Angel
3. AI for Mundane Tasks
4. AI as Ancestral Knowledge
5. Hyper-local Resources
6. Socialized Transportation System
7. Technology Trials and Trust
8. Collective Learning Experiences
9. Accessibility
10. Focus on Nature in Urban Planning
11. Healthcare
12. Aging
13. Future of Working
14. Nature
15. Community Engagement
16. Pets
17. Safety
18. Education
The findings and insights were synthesized into actionable recommendations and shared with another department to inform user-centered design and innovation in their future projects. Some of these insights were presented through a video using storytelling and data visualization to communicate key findings in a clear and engaging format for stakeholders.
From Ideals to Ideas: Six Visions for a Harmonious Hybrid Society in 2050
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Guardian Angel
Ethical AI serves as a subtle, constant guide that informs decisions based on user-defined values, providing feedback and accountability to help align actions with these values. By reminding users of their ethical commitments and prompting consistent choices, it can improve individual productivity and group cohesion by fostering empathy.
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Technology Trials
Technology trials, similar to clinical trials are structured evaluations of new technological advancements. These trials are conducted to assess the efficacy, safety, and usability of the technology in real-world scenarios to determine if the technology meets its ethical standards and is ready for broader deployment.
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Hyper-Local Resources
The idea of utilizing AI and technology to create a hyper-local society where families have access to all necessary resources within their local environment. This includes leveraging AI for efficient land use, resource management, and self-sustainability.
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Socialized Transportation System
Socialized transportation is a unified system for easy access to various travel modes from local to global, prioritizing safety, accessibility, sustainability, affordability, and equity. It leverages AI to manage travel harmoniously, ensuring nature acts as a check against overtravel, and includes the evolution of passports to facilitate international travel without privileging specific populations.
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Ancestral Knowledge and AI
AI functioning as a repository for ancestral knowledge, preserving and adapting it as a valuable resource for present and future generations. This perspective views knowledge as a living, evolving entity that carries the past into the future.
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Collective Learning/Experiences
Collective learning and experiences involve groups or societies accumulating knowledge and skills over time through shared activities and communication. This process allows knowledge to be passed down through generations, aiding societal growth and cultural development.