Basic Lesson 1
AI won’t replace you, A person using AI will. — What this means is that AI by itself doesn't hold a power to replace us, mostly because it's infant technology and it holds multiple limitations, some of which are not resolvable in the foreseeable future. For one, it can't figure out what problems to solve yet. AI has trouble understanding context, and because we're still in the age of narrow AI, where AI tools can only do one type of task, it's very hard to solve complex problems with AI alone. It's true that research is being done in the space of collaborative intelligence where under the guidance of a governing AI different AI models work together to tackle more sophisticated tasks and solve complex problems. But right now AI is mostly a one-trick pony, so it can't possibly understand complex systems like a person's context. Their psychology, environment, background, needs, goals, aspirations, relationships interpret all the connections and understand how they might make this person's life better. Only humans can understand humans deeply enough to really address the problems they struggle with. Then, design solutions require *multi-disciplinary efforts*, AI systems can't handle this level of complexity in grasping landscapes and putting different perspectives and disciplines together. *AI also lacks empathy and a good understanding of human psychology*.
we'll delve into Artificial Intelligence (AI) fundamentals, uncover AI’s crucial role in our evolving world, explore essential concepts such as Machine Learning and Deep Learning, and understand the creative applications of Generative AI in design.
Why AI is important and how it is changing the world.
What Artificial Intelligence is and the meaning of related terms, including Machine Learning and Deep Learning.
What Generative AI is and some examples of its applications.
The impact of AI on the design industry and its role as a design assistant.
What prompt engineering is and how to craft effective text prompts for design.
You've heard of AI and all the wonderful—and sometimes scary—possibilities. But, unlike sci-fi apocalyptic movies, AI isn't out to destroy humanity. Let's take a look at the challenges and opportunities we face as AI meets Design.
“Designing for AI” products and “Designing with AI”. —
"Designing for AI" means that we incorporate AI into the solutions that we design. Don’t think of products based on detailed commands; rather, express goals and let AI work out the steps. This changes the way we think about products and solutions.
"Designing with AI" means that we can incorporate AI into our design process. We can think of it as a partner and collaborator. We can use AI as an exoskeleton and augment our capabilities.
I'm always thinking about an intersection of AI and design into two main frames: *designing with AI* and *designing for AI*. When I talk about designing for AI, what I'm talking about is a whole new world of design challenges and opportunities.
AI is introducing the third user-interface paradigm in computing history, shifting to a new interaction mechanism where users tell the computer what they want, not how to do it — thus reversing the locus of control
What is artificial intelligence?
The pursuit of defining AI can take two pathways: *defining it as a discipline, as a field*, and *defining it as a capability*. *narrow AI* and *general AI*. We're in the age of narrow AI, or weak AI, which means that current systems are designed to perform specific tasks, like voice recognition, recommendation systems or image recognition. They operate within clear boundaries, have multiple limitations, and are tailored for specific tasks. General AI, or strong AI, is still a thing of science-fiction movies.
It refers to systems that possess the capability to perform *any* intellectual task that a human being can. They can understand, learn, adapt and implement knowledge from one domain to another, and – who knows – maybe even become sentient?
It has *autonomy*, so the ability to perform tasks in complex environments without constant guidance by the user; and *adaptivity* – the ability to improve performance by learning from experience
Generative AI
Generative AI is revolutionizing various industries, akin to the early days of the internet. It creates new content based on existing data, to generate text, images, and more. In design, it produces visual mock-ups, product illustrations, and even supplements real data through synthetic information. Let's explore generative AI models and the influence they have on the industry.
Generative AI refers to a class of artificial intelligence algorithms and models designed to generate new, unique content, such as images, text, music, and more, similar to data it has been trained on. Unlike traditional AI systems that follow explicit instructions to perform tasks, generative AI operates by learning patterns and structures from large datasets, allowing it to create original content.
What Is Prompt Engineering?
How do we talk to AI systems effectively? We do it through prompts—detailed instructions—we give to AI to get the desired output. The process of refining our questions or commands to ensure the AI understands exactly what we need is called prompt engineering. Let's explore the intricacies of AI communication through prompts.