Not-Yet-Smart: The UX of Voice Control Devices in Homes with Multiple Users
It’s the exception to the rule. Most users personally opt-in to the technology they use on a daily basis. At some point — through a series of calculations about who we are, what we need, and what we can afford — we have each determined which devices and apps make the most sense in our day-to-day lives.
When it comes to adopting ‘smart home’ technology, however, one user often decides for the rest of us.
Differences in user buy-in
In the home I share with my partner, we have a voice-controlled device for every 200 square feet of living space. That does not include our smart phones, which are also voice control-enabled. We live surrounded by would-be helpful AI assistants.
While he has been an early, enthusiastic adopter of these devices, I have been the skeptic — resistant to concluding that they have truly made our lives more convenient. He fixates on being in the midst of cutting-edge technology. I fixate on how often it doesn’t work. After all, one can only yell a command so many times before craving the analog, on-off simplicity of a light switch.
Smart home expert Craig Lloyd of How-To Geek frames the problem like this:
“There’s a lot of configuration that has to be done in order to perfect your voice commands and make voice control seamless. A lot of new smarthome users entering the market don’t quite understand that yet, so they get frustrated when Alexa doesn’t follow through with certain commands… In other words, voice assistants are smart, but you have to teach them not to be dumb first.” ¹
Resentment — it’s personal
When the experience of using the technology is laden with pain points, there is a real risk that smart home devices can alienate reluctant users indefinitely. Add to that a generous helping of privacy concerns and you have a bona fide recipe for user resentment and distrust.²
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The human tendency to anthropomorphize AI technology further complicates the matter. Back when we owned an Amazon Echo, the running joke in our house was that “Alexa” was the “other woman” — cold and indifferent to my commands, cloyingly available for his.
“[When] we anthropomorphize things like AI, we also read our baser emotions into them. We assume that they’re wrathful and selfish, just like us.” ²
So when AI assistants don’t respond the way we would hope, we are not merely inconvenienced — we are offended. The narrative is false. The feelings of inadequacy and resentment are real. When overall user experience is underscored by the emotional experience of a product, this dissatisfaction cannot be downplayed. If you are designing a product for a multi-user home, you have to work to satisfy every user.
What would it take to win over every user? Make it “just work.”
“As consumers start to talk to and be understood by their products, user-centered companies must learn to apply the same intentional design principles to these interactions as they do with visual interfaces, if they hope to satisfy users’ high expectations for this new wave of tech to “just work.” ³
On-boarding for all
To avoid the risk of a smart home device feeling like an unwelcome roommate, every user should be invited to on-board in a basic way that feels simple and approachable. While more interested or advanced users can be led to personalize their preferences more deeply, all users should be made to feel acquainted with and acknowledged by the AI device.
Personalization
As smart home devices get better at learning users’ habits and preferences, they should and will be expected to treat users as unique beings.⁴ Product designers should prioritize user recognition and customization to promote the illusion of AI empathy. If we are going to anthropomorphize an AI assistant anyway, it would be better to imagine it to be a benevolent being, empathetic to our individual preferences and needs.
Standardization
As Jason Amunwa puts it in The UX of Voice: The Invisible Interface, “it’s a safe bet that few will want to memorize proprietary sets of commands for each of their AI assistants.”
The field at large needs to work to reduce compatibility issues among proprietary devices. This is undeniably a huge source of friction and one of the largest pain points for even advanced users in their quest to create a ‘smart home.’
The smarthome industry is fragmented. Every smarthome brand wants to create their own proprietary ecosystem, which results in a ton of products that you can choose from, but that don’t necessarily work well with each other if you have devices from different companies.¹
Last but not least — privacy assurances
We are living in an age where user data feels especially vulnerable to dark forces and corporate greed. The onus is on companies and product designers to assure users that their AI devices are on the side of good and not evil. Clear and comprehensive privacy options, as well as radical corporate transparency, will go a long way toward convincing users that it is the dawn of a most intelligent age — and not an Orwellian reality.
[1] Craig Lloyd. The Smarthome Industry Has Reached a Plateau. Here’s What’s Holding It Back
[2] gk_ and Jason Hreha. Anthropomorphism and AI
[3] Dorian Lynskey. ‘Alexa, are you invading my privacy?’ — the dark side of our voice assistants
[4] Rob Findlay. GLOBAL TRENDS 2019 — SMART HOMES — ADK insights
