5 More Signals about the Future of AI Interactions


5 More Signals about the Future of AI Interactions

by Jeff Humble


Dear Reader,

The way we interact with AI is changing, and it fascinates me.

How will we interact with AI in 2035? Signals give us a hint.

What are signals? Signals = surprising examples from today that suggest where the future might end up.

Last year, I did part 1, and now I want to share 5 more.

Signal #1: Google built an AI-enabled mouse pointer

This is a signal that I think will catch on fast.

The Google DeepMind team made a prototype that pairs voice with the mouse cursor to have AI do things on a computer.

Rather than explain it, just watch this video where they explain it.

​

This is basically how every Art Director already works, but it doesn't require a team of unpaid interns.


Signal #2: AI Jesus is the new confessional booth

If you want your AI to roleplay, why not start with the top?

​JustLikeMe lets users talk to their Lord & Savior for $2 per minute.

So, for around $2,000 (16 hours x $2/minute) you can have Jesus piped into your AirPods all day and really let the Holy Spirit guide you.

If your goal is to be taken off the naughty list, Santa is also available on the site.

I prefer this free AI Jesus because the branding is devilishly good.

How do you like interacting with your carpenter sensei?


Signal #3: AI in your browser reacts to what you're seeing on the internet

Ok, this one seems mundane at first, but I think it tells something very interesting about the future.

Rather than screenshotting or copying text, you just press the browser plugin, and you can ask AI questions directly about a webpage.

I think a lot of innovation in the next two years in human-to-AI interactions will be around shortening the time-to-answer, and triggering an AI prompt in-screen is how they're doing it today.

I think we'll see more interactions like this in the next 2-3 years.


Signal #4: AlterEgo gives you inaudible voice commands for your AI

AlterEgo is in the final stages of perfecting its voice input device that allows you to talk to a machine in a way that no human can hear.

This device might make open floor plans actually tolerable, as you can chat all day with your AI, and nobody will hear it.

The company has really improved on its product, but it looks way less badass than the 2018 prototype:

Check out the demo here.

The office of the future will be a very weird place.


Signal #5: Asimov, the open-source AI robot launching this summer for $15,000

Finally, an AI that can take your chores, not your job.

​Asimov is a little open-sourced robot set to launch at the end of summer 2026, and it looks adorable.

This signals a serious shift away from hyper-expensive robots, and I hope this trend of cheap and open-sourced continues.


The human-to-AI interaction layer is shifting from deliberate text input to ambient, visual, spatial, and proactive input.

And that's a future where design will be critical.

What are you seeing?

​

​Source​


COURSE: Defining UX Strategy

Learn to design a winning strategy that aligns design with business.​
Self-paced seats available

​

Until next week, pay attention to those signals from the future!

Jeff Humble
​Designer & Co-Founder
​
The Fountain Institute

​

The Fountain Institute

The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.

Read more from The Fountain Institute
Tiny Valencia is a view of a real city like SimCity

Designers & Researchers Are Hurting, a Real SimCity, and the Open-Sourced Figma Rival Hey Reader, The air is crisp with the sound of the job market falling all around. Let's start with the bad news and then play with some toys. Sound good? PMs are winning, while designers and researchers are not from Lenny's Newsletter I always watch Lenny's Newsletter for the data and job market posts because they are very thorough (even if they're always a bit too U.S. focused). In his latest post, State of...

A Font that AI Can't Read, Getty Goes Bankrupt, and a New Job for Journey Maps Dear Reader, Happy Halloween! I've got you a full sack of newsletter treats for you and the product team so let's jump right into it. Here's what you need to know about the last two weeks in the tech/product/design world... A font that hides words from AI Source Eric Lu's new Decoy Font is a typeface that (for now) allows you to hide things from AI. It's an old trick called Hybrid Image where each letter has two...

Design's Obituary, the Shielding Problem, and the Future of Human Computing? Dear Reader, Halloween is around the corner, and some people are already carving R.I.P. on design's tombstone. Before you start looking for a black suit, get caught up on the last two weeks. Buckle up, there's going to be some ups and downs! Will design be the first AI casualty? Created with FLUX.1 Krea [dev] Figma Investor Gokul Rajaram posted "DESIGN: THE FIRST AI CASUALTY" on X, and it's up to 767K views. He...