AI Needs A New Design Vocabulary: And Other Thoughts on Files, Buttons, Documents, And Menus.

Also Known As: The Things That Will Ruin Your AI System Development Progress And Are Silly And Yet Obvious & Important.

It’s 1pm. You walk into your living room and see a… creature. It’s not an animal, too rigid to be an animal. The creature is more of an object. An object that can react and respond to you in the same way a human would. Their “skin” is smooth, not human like, more like a brushed metal. And there’s a low hum that is coming from somewhere inside... maybe air going in and out for purposes of cooling or maybe to deliver nutrients to vital systems. This creature is one you’ve never met before, and yet, feels so familiar. What’s the first thing you’d say to this new form of life? Think about it for a second…

“Hello?” or maybe…

“What are you?”

or maybe-actually…

“Holy Shit what the hell are you doing in my living room!”

No wait. That’s a bad idea: you need to be polite. Don’t say “Holy Shit”.

“Wow, cool.” might be better.

Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it. I didn’t say this so don’t quote me. I just know it from the most famous and spectacular philosopher of our time: Albus Dumbledore.

The point is, words can be used to give life to the inanimate. How? By using them to name things. To find things. Words can help you remember things. They can help you create things. They can help you imagine things. They can help you talk about things… and they can even help you think about things.

The trick is to choose the right words: words that make things clear, and words that make things magic. When a group of words comes together in just the right way, indeed, it will feel like a magical incantation for the observer (reader, listener, etc). My cofounder Russell reminds us everyday (sometimes multiple times a day) that how you think and talk about things is directly related to how you’ll go about creating those things.

Let’s do this… below i’ve shared a couple old-timey examples of how we talk about computers today. And look I get it.. some of you reading this are going to say “Well Ross… computers aren’t actually ALIVE creatures”. To you, I say, go read something else, this blog post is not for you. Everyone else? Well… let’s play. As you go throughout you days, try and replace the words you use, with different words. I’ve included a few bad examples below and I encourage you to try it out in your day-to-day as you build your own AI vocabulary to see if it sparks a new frame. This list is not exhaustive, so if you want to make it complete, well, please do that.

Desktop

Ah the desktop. What a great example of a broken-ass metaphor. It’s 2022 (almost). Who makes stuff on a DESK anymore? (looks around as a tap tap type on my desk)… anyways.

Instead of using desktop. Use instead: playground / classroom / canvas

• “I just saved an image to my playground.”
• “Open your computer to your classroom”
• “I need to make a new thing, so i’m opening my canvas”

Buttons

Aka “CLICK HERE”. The word button has been used for millennia to indicate to a human that there is a state-machine that can be switched. “Is it on?” NO “Ok press the button”. They’re bad (but effective) metaphors for communicating direct input/output.

Instead of using buttons. Use instead: body/hand gestures, vocalizations, and facial expressions

• “Once you’re done, tell the computer you’re done.”
• “Gesture your head up and down to continue.”
• “Happy with the design of your site? Smile.”

Documents

Documents (such as business cards) were invented by the Big Paper Industry to make sure we’ll always line their pockets with… well… green paper. Nowadays documents are mostly digital (thank god) and the Big Paper Industry is on its way out. But we now have DIGITAL documents 😳. It’s not a digital document. It’s a… a… a… a… a…. memory.

Instead of using documents. Use instead: memories

• “Can you send me the latest market analysis memory of the taco industry”
• “What does the legal memory say about their employment agreement?”
• “I need to draft a memory about the best tacos”

Files

Related to documents. FILES. What is a file? Well… its a folder or box for holding loose papers that are typically arranged in a particular order for easy reference…omg it’s 2022 why are we still hoarding PAPER.

Instead of using files. Use instead: flows

• “Let’s just flow and see what we can come up with”
• “I need to flow a memory about the best tacos” (see above)
• “Send me all your best flows”

Delete

It is wild to me that our brains evolved to forget. I’m glad, otherwise i’d never get out of bed in the morning because I can only imagine how traumatic it would be to remember shitting my pants when I was a baby (it’s fine, we all did it).

Instead of using delete. Use instead: forget

• “Forget all my memories from last year”
• “Forget the things that I don’t use anymore”

Menu

What is a Menu? Well… its a list of options. What happens when a computer just picks for you? Hmmm.

Instead of using menu. Use instead: routines and context frames

• “Here’s your morning routine”
• “What context should I be aware of today?”

Conclusion

This is an awful blog post, and yet, I had a lot of fun writing it (with an AI in fact!). Gist is: AI will only become useful once humans are willing to learn in tandem with AIs, not attempt to get them to learn “all the bad human metaphors and things”.

We do not yet have the scope of memory or context, by an order of magnitude, in our minds when we think about all that computers can be made to do. So.. go think about new words that will allow us to make computers that are a reflection of the best of us, and actually care about people.

💜 🤖 🧠