Greetings from NYC (more on that next time),
At 12:50 pm today I pressed publish on something that I’d been writing for a while. It’s a piece called ‘
The Form and Function of AI’.
At 1:00 pm, OpenAI did a 30 min live stream announcing a new product called ChatGPT 4o. And as someone put it on Twitter shortly after, all human computer interaction has changed.
My article is a bit of a brain dump exploring two of the design challenged that come with AI:
- What kind of identity should AI have?
- How should we interact with it?
I don’t try and provide any answers, I mostly ask questions and share thoughts from others who are wondering the same kinds of things.
It did not occur to me that the questions I was asking would (at least partially) be answered so quickly.
You should watch the
video in full or at least look at these
short demo videos. The technology is shockingly good.
Have you seen the movie HER? We we are at that stage now.
What does this mean for education? Visually impaired people? Travelling to foreign countries? I have so many questions.
The techno optimists are having a field day. The AI doomers will be writing their panic pieces tonight. And I’m not sure what to think.
It is reported that OpenAI have signed a deal with Apple to bring this technology to Siri and that it will be announced next month.
We’ve all either said or heard people say that phones ‘haven’t changed’ in years. The cameras just get better. But we all still remember when each new iPhone came with some (what felt like) breakthrough technology it in. And then that all stopped.
Well, it appears that we could be back, baby!
Let’s wait and see.
I do feel excited though. It really does feel like something is shifting.
I’ve been writing about voice interfaces for years. In a lot of ways, they are they are the holy grail of product design (“the best interface is no interface”). But the technology simply hasn’t been ready.
What OpenAI showed us today was a view into the future that Hollywood has been writing about for 50+ years.
I am mostly excited for the kids though. I can see them adopting this stuff quickly and it’s education applications seem like a no brainer. Maybe I’m wrong though?
What do you think?
Nick
