How To Stay "Stubbornly Human" in an AI World / Inside Service Design / Ep. #07
Service Design Show
When Digital Tone Becomes Empathy Theater
Jeff presents scenarios about dehumanized digital experiences and questions when friendly tone crosses into manipulation.
Here is a hot take, empathy is becoming "theater"...
I mean, it's that feeling you get when you receive a "hyper-personalized" yet clearly automated email saying "We are so deeply sorry to see you go".
To me, it just feels insincere. Actually, it even feels manipulative.
Instead of a genuine connection, it’s a performance designed to "manage" me, not help me.
As every business out there is in a race to automate and integrate AI, the actual human connection is often the first thing to get outsourced.
And when we try to paste humanity back onto technology, we often end up in a digital uncanny valley.
So, how do we push back?
How do we remain "stubbornly human" when the systems around us only care about efficiency?
That is the battle we explore in the latest episode of our Inside Service Design series.
In this conversation, I sit down with two service design professionals from very different worlds: Jeff, who works in the highly digital fintech space, and Emilie, an Innovation Partner at a faith-based nonprofit.
Despite their different contexts, they share some great insights on keeping the "human" in human-centered design.
Jeff breaks down the concept of Empathy Theater and challenges us to spot when a friendly tone in a digital interface crosses the line into manipulation. And Emilie walks us through a future scenario where VR headsets are the default for education, forcing us to ask: how do we design for belonging when we are physically apart?
So, if you are tired of seeing the human element get optimized out of existence, this conversation will give you some strong arguments you need to stand your ground.
Quick question: Have you received an email recently that felt like "Empathy Theater"? If yes, send me a quick reply with "Guilty" (bonus points if you can share the example)!
I'm trying to get a sense of how widespread this is becoming.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to October Round Up
05:00 Emilie's Service Design Journey
07:30 Jeff from Interior Design to FinTech
12:30 Jeff's Biggest In-House Design Challenge
15:00 Challenges in Non-Profit Design
18:00 Emilie's True Measure of Success
20:00 How Jeff Measures Success in Long-Term Projects
25:00 Emilie's topic: Education in 2038
29:00 Jeff's topic: Keep Things 'Stubbornly Human'
33:45 The Circle Reacts to Insincere Digital Tone
36:45 How Emilie's group responded
39:00 Emilie's Hopeful Reflection on the Future of Design
40:00 The Practical Tweak Jeff Made
43:00 Emilie's #1 Hard-Won Career Lesson
45:30 Jeff's Hard-Won Lesson in Service Design
46:30 When Jeff Stopped Focusing on Deliverables
51:00 Why Beautiful Artifacts Don't Impress Executives
53:00 How to Stop the Treadmill
54:30 Emilie's Question to the Audience
55:30 Jeff Answers the Question He Wants to Ask
57:30 Emilie Answers Her Own Deep Question
59:00 Final words of wisdom
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