The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
5 Signals That Hint at the Future of AI Interactions
5 Signals That Hint at the Future of AI Interactionsby Jeff Humble Dear Reader, The AI landscape is changing fast, and the way we interact with AI is changing even faster. Who knows what the UX of AI will be in 2035? Right now, most of us talk to AI through clunky, chat-based interfaces. But new hardware hints at something more human and ambient. Today, I want to share 5 signals: surprising examples from today that suggest where the future might end up, and a method used by future foresight professionals. Here are 5 signals about the future of UX & AI Signal #1: Meta Ray-Bans Are Quietly Winning the AI Wearables Game with Simple UXMeta has sold over 2 million AI-powered smart glasses. Why? They’re stylish, subtle, and usable. Unlike the Humane Pin, they don’t scream “look at my tech.” How might we integrate fashionable, easy-to-use, screenless AI experiences in the future? Signal #2: The Doom Box is a DIY, Offline AI ComputerBuilt in a Faraday cage using Raspberry Pi, this apocalypse-proof device keeps AI private and usable...no cloud connection (or subscription) required! How might we learn from hobbyists' off-grid & offline AI hardware? Signal #3: Infinite Memory Through Wearable AIStartups like Limitless and Bee offer pendants and earbuds that record and transcribe everything you hear. The result? A searchable memory bank of your daily life. How might we pair simple hardware with AI to come up with new user value? Signal #4: AI Mirrors That Monitor Your HealthWithings’ concept AI mirror blends into your bathroom while tracking posture, heart rate, and more. It’s passive, ambient, and strangely comforting. 🔗 Preview the Withings Mirror How might we bring old inputs into new AI-powered interfaces? Signal #5: OpenAI +Jony Ive Are Building a Voice-First AI DeviceSam Altman and Jony Ive are working on a $6.5B ambient AI device. It's got no screen, but a lot of presence. It’s the anti-iPhone, and it could reshape how we think about smart homes. How might we design experiences that are ambient and screenless? Inputs for UX Strategy & InnovationThese signals aren’t predictions; they’re inputs for designing strategy and creating innovative new products. They hint at where the UX of AI might go:
And most importantly, AI interfaces might not look like interfaces at all? Anything is possible. Now is the perfect moment to get creative and come up with a new strategy to surf this AI wave. What do you think? Want to go deeper? 👉 Read the full blog post (and share it with a friend) 👉 Take my UX strategy course (and take control of your team's future) Source, yours truly
Stay curious! 🔭
P.S. I've decided to run another LIVE cohort of Defining UX Strategy this autumn. Click here to join the waitlist |
The Fountain Institute
The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
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...
Slop Grenades, a Warming UX Job Market, and the New Bar for Designers Dear Reader, It's officially autumn, and the air is crisp with the sound of falling design career norms. Here's what you need to know from the last two weeks... How to turn your AI into a world-class designer Source In this guest post for Lenny's Newsletter, Anshu Chimala really shared the sauce on how to get AI to do the kind of high-end web design that could only previously be done by someone with a septum piercing and...
5 Ways to Stay Ahead of AI + Recording for "Upstream of the Machine" Dear Reader, Last night we had a fun little event called Upstream of the Machine. In the talk, I shared 5 strategies that designers can use to stay ahead of AI. Each one is inspired by design-adjacent roles where designers can potentially have an edge. You should be able to find at least one strategy that fits you. The Five Strategies Work the infrastructure — like a service designer Generate evidence — like a scientist...