Today’s Snack: 5 types of Human-AI interaction 🍪

Figure 1: The 5 Human-AI Interaction Types

If we look at the five types of human-AI interaction (Figure 1) proposed by Silvana Hinsen, we can see that there are several ways in which we can interact with AI:

• Guardian Angel

  • The guardian angel includes interactions that are entirely unconscious to people, right up to and sometimes beyond the outcome.

• Pixie

  • A pixie is an AI agent that carries out basic activities of daily life. Specifically, a pixie takes over repetitive tasks to reduce or simplify human labour.

• Informant

  • Although an informant also takes on basic activities like a pixie, an informant’s interaction is more centred on obtaining information.

• Colleague

  • A colleague is goal-orientated and provides information, assistance or advice in conscious interactions.

• Best Friend

  • The best friend is an extraordinarily complex type of interaction due to its great interdependence. At the same time, the best friend only interacts within the framework of a predefined social action.

Thinking about all these interaction possibilities allows us to innovate and avoid falling back on the easiest solutions that we think are ‘shiny’ for users.

An AI system that helps people doesn’t always have to be a chat, or something that is always there. These solutions can also be omnipresent and autonomous.

The State of UX 2025 ✨

The State of UX 2025 is out! Check the UX trends for the coming year.

Tech News 🤓

• Americans will be able to start interacting with ChatGPT by voice call when dialling a number.

• GitHub has launched its AI companion.

• Flipboard is trying to create a new social network through its recent Surf project.

• The ‘Fertilo’ method is a new alternative to traditional in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which increases efficiency and reduces the need for hormone injections by 80%.

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To go deeper: the Design for AI guide, Mental models for AI design, The Agentic Era, and the ethical principles in AI design.