In an episode of the popular German television series, “Tatort,” the owner of a fully automated kiosk in Berlin is killed by a coffee-making robot with a precise stab to the cervical vertebrae. The detective charged with solving the case, inspector Karow, has someone explain to him how robots function before asking himself: "Can machines murder?”
The answer is clear: a robot would never possess the motive to murder. It has no will of its own and even if it did, it could not situate that within its environment. A murder carried out by a robot can thus only have been programmed to do so by a human being. As the episode shows, robots have many safety systems built in to prevent accidents in industry.
At the heart of this excellently produced TV episode, however, is a central question being asked within our society today: Will robots eventually take over? Many threatening scenarios are unsettling to the general public, like the autonomous drones that use facial recognition to locate targets and then kill them – fully automated, without a human CIA agent at Langley verifying the machine’s decision. The Californian ideology is moving in this direction, as many CEOs in Silicon Valley are convinced that machines will make better decisions than humans.
Artificial Intelligence has long since found its way into our everyday lives: In California, autonomous vehicles have already caused fatal accidents. The Google Duplex project makes restaurant reservations and hairdresser appointments so convincingly that the AI has to identify itself as a machine. Voice assistants such as Alexa, Echo and Google Home are used by the millions. Every spam filter is also based on AI – and has been for decades.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence determines the future of humanity. But will it help us or rule over us? This is also a question of design. The answer to this question will determine whether AI will become socially accepted or whether it will meet with the cumulative resistance of the people. That is why the discussion about new technologies should not be limited to technical matters. It is also a political and cultural debate about how we humans want to live and work in the future.
Through digitalization and AI, technology is permeating every aspect of our lives. A man-machine continuum has developed, one which has been reflected in literature and in Hollywood for decades with romantic-critical cyborg visions.
The merging of work and life is a central theme here. And our industry in Germany and Europe is increasingly beginning to master this fusion of the physical and digital worlds. It is developing digital twins of airplanes, ships and large industrial plants that represent a complete digital representation of all components and processes. This helps to monitor detailed processes, analyze defects and detect wear and tear, as everything that a physical object experiences is digitally reproduced.
The digital twin is not a new invention. The concept goes back to the early days of space travel, when NASA had a true-to-original copy of each spacecraft capsule available in its control room in Houston to simulate on earth all the processes in space. When computer capacities reached a critical mass, these analog simulation models migrated to the digital world. In the new mass customization production process, a digital twin allows virtually infinite design variations without stopping the production line once.
Today we speak of the Internet of Things and the Internet of Services but where, might I ask, is the Internet of the User? I wonder why we can master digital representations of machines so well but have not yet developed real digital twins of humanity. A digital twin that represents humanity in its entirety, with the whole biography of its social, cultural, political and economic interactions.
Silicon Valley has long had digital twins of billions of citizens. But these digital twins are dark twins. They only partially represent people because they are only interested in their consumption preferences. Facebook, Amazon and Google only use Artificial Intelligence to market gigantic data sets for advertising purposes. All companies are united here in the fact that they – like the secret services – collect and use their data in the dark.
Imagine that one day you come across your dark twin on the internet: You wouldn’t recognize yourself. Your face would be an ugly mug, a frightening effigy of your own personal digital Dorian Grey.
The growing unease among the general public about the rapid rise of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence is also due to the fact that they are not actors in this fascinating technology, but passive objects that are constantly being scanned, evaluated and calculated. This leads to the incredible popularity of dystopian fantasies in Hollywood movies as well as the sharp criticism about the uncontrolled use of Artificial Intelligence, as put forth by, say, Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk. Therefore, we must demand: Bring our dark twins out of the shadows!
Citizens all over the world want to take back control of their data. In the wake of the recent scandals surrounding Cambridge Analytica, there is a clear majority in favor of data security and data protection. People, who are always consumers and customers at the same time, are reclaiming their data for themselves in order to regain their consumer sovereignty. They rightly suspect that in the hands of Artificial Intelligence, they are only usable binary material and not the sovereign consumer and citizen that has always been fully promised to them by the market economy and democracy.
Against this backdrop, we designers must make considerable efforts to reconcile man with machine if we want to mount social acceptance of these technological achievements. This can only succeed if we change our priorities. It is not important to give machines the appearance of innocuousness by allowing designers to paint a pretty face on robots that look at us with toddler eyes. We must finally create transparency about the impact of these technologies on society and translate this into a sincere shaping of our environment.
People must not be turned into passive objects of the rapid economic and social changes brought on by digitalization. Instead, they should be empowered to become self-determined actors in the sensible application and smart use of these wonderful technologies.
Artificial Intelligence can be the basis for a new, different life. In order to accomplish this, industry must finally think radically from a human perspective and not just buy or develop technology and then impose it on the user. It is about nothing less than the humanization of technology. Artificial Intelligence must be civilized!
In order to humanize Artificial Intelligence, it must be accessible to humans, easy to learn, applicable and designable. The technology must be designed for humans in such a way that they perceive it as tolerant, patient, warm and empathetic.
In short, Artificial Intelligence must be domesticated so that humans can fully trust it. One might now object that the demand for domestication of the machine is too oversimplified. But it must be made clear: A dog cannot bite its owner or it will be muzzled. The plug will be pulled. Over the course of thousands of years, man has learned that he makes the world his own, not vice versa. And all of man's inventions throughout the long history of technological advancements have always been an extension of a human body and a human’s skills. At the end of every technological development there was always a tool that leveraged mankind’s power and provided intelligent solutions to everyday problems. If technology is to be successful on the market over the long term, it must once again focus on people.
The electronic mainframe computer left its wall cupboard and became a personal computer (PC) which is now carried around the globe in nearly every individual’s pocket in the shape of a smartphone. It has thus become a truly private and personal tool for millions of individuals. Following this model, Artificial Intelligence must become Personal Intelligence. From AI to PI. To become a tool for everyone, a technology with which everyone becomes a sovereign actor and user and benefits directly from technical progress.
And this is where the designer comes into play. It was always the core responsibility of designers to humanize technology. Designers understand people’s fears, desires and needs. As the consumer advocate, designers provide the requisite empathy in the field. And as such, the discipline of design faces its greatest responsibility: the civilization of Artificial Intelligence.
Designers have always been intensely observing, researching and analyzing people and the context of their usage. Designers shape the intuitive relationship of people to their things and to their own digital interaction representation. And so the designer becomes a mediator between technology and the world we live in. We have a large toolbox at our disposal that allows us to radically take the perspective of the user and the human being. So the formula must be: PI = AI + UX. Personal Intelligence = Artificial Intelligence + User Experience.
However, this requires that the designer does not retreat to the island of beautification, but rather engages with technology and contextualizes it for people. Today, the results are still not very convincing, but there are already AI creating paintings that were exhibited at the Art Basel and could not be distinguished from man-made art by viewers. Music has already been composed by AI and books and reviews have already been written by AI.
The fertile creative element may not be the exclusive domain of humans. For the time being, however, it appears that these linearly machine-made works lack surprise and wit. But for the masses, machine-made logos created on the basis of learned aesthetic principles may be enough. Very few designers will then be needed for this. The designer should therefore use his human creativity to create the personal intelligence of the future.
He can use big data and analytics and draw on his ability to understand the needs of the user. The ability to understand relevant personal information already belongs in the toolbox of every designer working on the digital user experience. We already know and use some of the possibilities of data-based design in personalization processes in order to build custom-fit digital experiences in real time. We can already calculate many millions of user scenarios simultaneously and develop digital prototypes, application scenarios and experiments at high speed. The goal already today is to configure smart applications for a very specific person (Segment of One). Artificial Intelligence will help the designer to automate these processes and scale them millions of times over.
If we think of Personal Intelligence as a personal tool, then a digital twin for humans could arise out of it. It would be a complete, undistorted digital representation of the individual personality, with all its social relationships, preferences, attitudes, political views, professional qualifications with a wide range of interests, wishes and needs. This personal digital twin would be under the complete control of the sovereign person and not under the thumb of corporations in California.
So if we, as designers, give Artificial Intelligence to the individual as a tool, then he or she would go from being an externally determined object to a self-determined subject – the master of his or her own digital universe. Only this can be our goal.
Essay by Philipp Thesen
Published in Horizont Online, 09/2018
In an episode of the popular German television series, “Tatort,” the owner of a fully automated kiosk in Berlin is killed by a coffee-making robot with a precise stab to the cervical vertebrae. The detective charged with solving the case, inspector Karow, has someone explain to him how robots function before asking himself: "Can machines murder?”
The answer is clear: a robot would never possess the motive to murder. It has no will of its own and even if it did, it could not situate that within its environment. A murder carried out by a robot can thus only have been programmed to do so by a human being. As the episode shows, robots have many safety systems built in to prevent accidents in industry.
At the heart of this excellently produced TV episode, however, is a central question being asked within our society today: Will robots eventually take over? Many threatening scenarios are unsettling to the general public, like the autonomous drones that use facial recognition to locate targets and then kill them – fully automated, without a human CIA agent at Langley verifying the machine’s decision. The Californian ideology is moving in this direction, as many CEOs in Silicon Valley are convinced that machines will make better decisions than humans.
Artificial Intelligence has long since found its way into our everyday lives: In California, autonomous vehicles have already caused fatal accidents. The Google Duplex project makes restaurant reservations and hairdresser appointments so convincingly that the AI has to identify itself as a machine. Voice assistants such as Alexa, Echo and Google Home are used by the millions. Every spam filter is also based on AI – and has been for decades.
The rise of Artificial Intelligence determines the future of humanity. But will it help us or rule over us? This is also a question of design. The answer to this question will determine whether AI will become socially accepted or whether it will meet with the cumulative resistance of the people. That is why the discussion about new technologies should not be limited to technical matters. It is also a political and cultural debate about how we humans want to live and work in the future.
Through digitalization and AI, technology is permeating every aspect of our lives. A man-machine continuum has developed, one which has been reflected in literature and in Hollywood for decades with romantic-critical cyborg visions.
The merging of work and life is a central theme here. And our industry in Germany and Europe is increasingly beginning to master this fusion of the physical and digital worlds. It is developing digital twins of airplanes, ships and large industrial plants that represent a complete digital representation of all components and processes. This helps to monitor detailed processes, analyze defects and detect wear and tear, as everything that a physical object experiences is digitally reproduced.
The digital twin is not a new invention. The concept goes back to the early days of space travel, when NASA had a true-to-original copy of each spacecraft capsule available in its control room in Houston to simulate on earth all the processes in space. When computer capacities reached a critical mass, these analog simulation models migrated to the digital world. In the new mass customization production process, a digital twin allows virtually infinite design variations without stopping the production line once.
Today we speak of the Internet of Things and the Internet of Services but where, might I ask, is the Internet of the User? I wonder why we can master digital representations of machines so well but have not yet developed real digital twins of humanity. A digital twin that represents humanity in its entirety, with the whole biography of its social, cultural, political and economic interactions.
Silicon Valley has long had digital twins of billions of citizens. But these digital twins are dark twins. They only partially represent people because they are only interested in their consumption preferences. Facebook, Amazon and Google only use Artificial Intelligence to market gigantic data sets for advertising purposes. All companies are united here in the fact that they – like the secret services – collect and use their data in the dark.
Imagine that one day you come across your dark twin on the internet: You wouldn’t recognize yourself. Your face would be an ugly mug, a frightening effigy of your own personal digital Dorian Grey.
The growing unease among the general public about the rapid rise of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence is also due to the fact that they are not actors in this fascinating technology, but passive objects that are constantly being scanned, evaluated and calculated. This leads to the incredible popularity of dystopian fantasies in Hollywood movies as well as the sharp criticism about the uncontrolled use of Artificial Intelligence, as put forth by, say, Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk. Therefore, we must demand: Bring our dark twins out of the shadows!
Citizens all over the world want to take back control of their data. In the wake of the recent scandals surrounding Cambridge Analytica, there is a clear majority in favor of data security and data protection. People, who are always consumers and customers at the same time, are reclaiming their data for themselves in order to regain their consumer sovereignty. They rightly suspect that in the hands of Artificial Intelligence, they are only usable binary material and not the sovereign consumer and citizen that has always been fully promised to them by the market economy and democracy.
Against this backdrop, we designers must make considerable efforts to reconcile man with machine if we want to mount social acceptance of these technological achievements. This can only succeed if we change our priorities. It is not important to give machines the appearance of innocuousness by allowing designers to paint a pretty face on robots that look at us with toddler eyes. We must finally create transparency about the impact of these technologies on society and translate this into a sincere shaping of our environment.
People must not be turned into passive objects of the rapid economic and social changes brought on by digitalization. Instead, they should be empowered to become self-determined actors in the sensible application and smart use of these wonderful technologies.
Artificial Intelligence can be the basis for a new, different life. In order to accomplish this, industry must finally think radically from a human perspective and not just buy or develop technology and then impose it on the user. It is about nothing less than the humanization of technology. Artificial Intelligence must be civilized!
In order to humanize Artificial Intelligence, it must be accessible to humans, easy to learn, applicable and designable. The technology must be designed for humans in such a way that they perceive it as tolerant, patient, warm and empathetic.
In short, Artificial Intelligence must be domesticated so that humans can fully trust it. One might now object that the demand for domestication of the machine is too oversimplified. But it must be made clear: A dog cannot bite its owner or it will be muzzled. The plug will be pulled. Over the course of thousands of years, man has learned that he makes the world his own, not vice versa. And all of man's inventions throughout the long history of technological advancements have always been an extension of a human body and a human’s skills. At the end of every technological development there was always a tool that leveraged mankind’s power and provided intelligent solutions to everyday problems. If technology is to be successful on the market over the long term, it must once again focus on people.
The electronic mainframe computer left its wall cupboard and became a personal computer (PC) which is now carried around the globe in nearly every individual’s pocket in the shape of a smartphone. It has thus become a truly private and personal tool for millions of individuals. Following this model, Artificial Intelligence must become Personal Intelligence. From AI to PI. To become a tool for everyone, a technology with which everyone becomes a sovereign actor and user and benefits directly from technical progress.
And this is where the designer comes into play. It was always the core responsibility of designers to humanize technology. Designers understand people’s fears, desires and needs. As the consumer advocate, designers provide the requisite empathy in the field. And as such, the discipline of design faces its greatest responsibility: the civilization of Artificial Intelligence.
Designers have always been intensely observing, researching and analyzing people and the context of their usage. Designers shape the intuitive relationship of people to their things and to their own digital interaction representation. And so the designer becomes a mediator between technology and the world we live in. We have a large toolbox at our disposal that allows us to radically take the perspective of the user and the human being. So the formula must be: PI = AI + UX. Personal Intelligence = Artificial Intelligence + User Experience.
However, this requires that the designer does not retreat to the island of beautification, but rather engages with technology and contextualizes it for people. Today, the results are still not very convincing, but there are already AI creating paintings that were exhibited at the Art Basel and could not be distinguished from man-made art by viewers. Music has already been composed by AI and books and reviews have already been written by AI.
The fertile creative element may not be the exclusive domain of humans. For the time being, however, it appears that these linearly machine-made works lack surprise and wit. But for the masses, machine-made logos created on the basis of learned aesthetic principles may be enough. Very few designers will then be needed for this. The designer should therefore use his human creativity to create the personal intelligence of the future.
He can use big data and analytics and draw on his ability to understand the needs of the user. The ability to understand relevant personal information already belongs in the toolbox of every designer working on the digital user experience. We already know and use some of the possibilities of data-based design in personalization processes in order to build custom-fit digital experiences in real time. We can already calculate many millions of user scenarios simultaneously and develop digital prototypes, application scenarios and experiments at high speed. The goal already today is to configure smart applications for a very specific person (Segment of One). Artificial Intelligence will help the designer to automate these processes and scale them millions of times over.
If we think of Personal Intelligence as a personal tool, then a digital twin for humans could arise out of it. It would be a complete, undistorted digital representation of the individual personality, with all its social relationships, preferences, attitudes, political views, professional qualifications with a wide range of interests, wishes and needs. This personal digital twin would be under the complete control of the sovereign person and not under the thumb of corporations in California.
So if we, as designers, give Artificial Intelligence to the individual as a tool, then he or she would go from being an externally determined object to a self-determined subject – the master of his or her own digital universe. Only this can be our goal.
Essay by Philipp Thesen
Published in Horizont Online, 09/2018
Business enquiries for management consulting and strategy development? Please contact Prenew. For lectures, quotes or further information please don’t hesitate to get in touch via telephone or e-mail:
Tel.: +49 (0) 151 535 227 09 / Mail: office@philippthesen.com
Business enquiries for management consulting and strategy development? Please contact Prenew. For lectures, quotes or further information please don’t hesitate to get in touch via telephone or e-mail:
Tel.: +49 (0) 151 535 227 09 / Mail: office@philippthesen.com