The big conversations on AI and design at SXSW 2018
As thousands descended
upon South by Southwest (SXSW) this year to catch a glimpse of the interactive
industry’s biggest leaders, McKinsey and QuantumBlack were
pleased to take part in some of the most engaging conversations in data
science, design, and artificial intelligence.
As in past years, Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to emerge as a key
issue as businesses and consumers wrestle with its perceived value and
underlying threats. The conversation at SXSW focused on how we need to rethink
our processes, examine underserved groups, and be realistic about expectations
of AI. We contributed to discussions in three areas of particular importance:
1) providing inclusive ways to solve complex problems; 2) expanding the skill
set of empathy and design with data; and 3) understanding the nuance of AI’s
impact.
Providing inclusive ways to solve complex
problems
Data scientist Ines
Marusic of QuantumBlack joined a women in AI panel to discuss the impact of today’s algorithms on
inclusion and fairness. While AI systems have the ability to improve our
understanding of complex situations, they can also perpetuate biases, which can
lead to decisions that produce unfair outcomes for different races,
ethnicities, and genders. The panel talked about the need to ensure that more
diverse ways of thinking are represented in algorithms. One way organizations
can achieve this is by evaluating the data from society that are used to power
artificial intelligence. Today’s machine-learning community has also started to
address these emerging issues by redefining the definition of fairness.
According to Marusic,
“The hope is that algorithmic fairness will help combat gender, racial, and
other forms of bias made by algorithms that make decisions in areas such as
loan approvals and resume screenings for job interviews.”
Expanding the skill set of empathy and design
with data
During the “Dirty
Little Liars: Why Are There Product Failures?” panel, McKinsey partner
Mahin Samadani explained that providing impact in the new tech landscape
requires us to think empathetically while also scaling insights. Machine
learning can augment the design process to help us combine data (the fuel) with
empathy (the spark).
Samadani explained a
successful approach to gaining insights and scaling empathy-driven design:
“With quantified experience design (QED), we explore things from a qualitative
standpoint; then, using machine learning, we scale this and identify the
opportunities and impact. One doesn’t come before the other: it’s a back and
forth, a dialogue. You can get more advanced as the organization gains
capabilities, but start with a survey — the original machine learning.”
Expanding on this idea,
John Maeda, global head of computational design and inclusion at
Auttomatic, underlined the importance of the designer. He stated that designers must
push companies to think beyond using AI and data to drive their decisions.
Maeda explained that designers today are uniquely positioned to do this because
they use empathy, design thinking, and AI (i.e., computational design) to solve
important problems.
McKinsey senior partner
Hugo Sarrazin echoed this idea in asserting that today’s most innovative
businesses also need to rethink what design actually is. “This complex
discipline does itself a disservice to call itself just “design,’ which signals
only service-level solutions. Perhaps we’ll start to see new ways of describing
these multifaceted and interconnected capabilities.”
As Sarrazin explained
in “Good design is good business,” a talk between himself and Maeda, design has evolved
and taken on different meanings and definitions. And its role and value have
expanded to the boardroom by creating impact “at the top.” That means asking
the most important questions of businesses: How does design work in your
business? How is it not just part of the product journey creation but also
integrated into the DNA of the company? How should data drive decisions within
the organization?
Understanding the nuance of AI’s impact
We noted that people
are developing a much more sophisticated understanding of AI, with more
insightful questions asked by the audience during this year’s SXSW panels. The
conversation moved beyond AI’s role in efficiency, automation, and cost savings
at a macrolevel to its use in more sophisticated areas such as
adaptive-learning algorithms and personalized 3-D printing for commerce.
According to McKinsey
partner Mehdi Miremadi, people acknowledged the need to be objective about AI’s
role. While there are risks (e.g., privacy), McKinsey research has shown that
AI can deliver significant benefits to society. Says Miremadi, “AI has been
around for decades, and it’s important that we all stay objective. AI will actually
bring the creation of new jobs.”
All in all, SXSW 2018
marked a significant step in the maturing of expectations and understanding
of what AI can and can’t do.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/digital-blog/the-big-conversations-on-ai-and-design-at-sxsw-2018?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1803&hlkid=e4d9b94997c84cfdafc1a8dd94d35a3f&hctky=1627601&hdpid=0583710b-eca4-418a-82b6-b9318761a52a
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