We’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence, or the ‘Experience of Things,’ which allows technologies to have increasingly human-like interactions that understand, predict and adapt. For many, AI feels most tangible in the products we touch, personalized platforms and the voice controlled interfaces we query, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home.
As AI becomes more centralized and seamless in our everyday lives, it provides personalized experiences that transform how we search and discover, make decisions and ultimately determines what we see and even more importantly, what we don’t.
Consider, for example, a day in the AI life that starts at home but doesn’t end there:
The day that just unfolded is a future that is already here and fueled by a growing number of smart products, content and services that can predict and mold their behavior around our desires. By carving desire lines through a world enabled by AI and connected technology, people are showing us what they want: a better and seamless experience with their world tailored to their personal desires.
How amazing to explore a world customized for me where I love everything I encounter. However, that same experience strengthens our bubbles, amplifies our echo chambers, limits new discovery and removes the important chafe of conflicting views.
Today, most AI experiences are a bit of hands-off magic mixed with a whole lot of user engagement, data input, linking platforms and setting up personal preferences. Those that benefit from a highly-connected, personalized ‘experience of things’ likely are enjoying the fruits of much labor.
AI is permeating every angle of our lives and increasingly learning more about our desires to curate personalized content, but does this truly solve a challenge in our lives or prevent discovery?
Have we lost the human experience of what spontaneity can bring?
As this technology continues to progress, brands and marketers will need to focus on adapting AI in a smart way that addresses what consumers really need, which isn’t necessarily what they think they want.
Human value will come in the balance of perfected automated prediction with messy unexpected humanity and the tailoring of a world we love mixed with the right grit of what we didn’t know we needed.