Dan Hill, the Director of the Melbourne School of Design and author, shares his insights on the intersection of AI and urban infrastructure. He argues that AI should be integrated thoughtfully to improve everyday life, while also addressing the challenges it poses. Hill critiques the ride-sharing model as an example of AI's pitfalls and advocates for collaborative approaches to design, drawing lessons from successful cities like Helsinki. He emphasizes the critical role of perspective in urban planning and the importance of improving communication in systems like healthcare.
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insights INSIGHT
AI as Core Infrastructure
AI is becoming a foundational infrastructure like pipes and subways, supporting essential city systems rather than being the end product.
This underscores the importance of treating AI as a public shared infrastructure demanding serious maintenance and care.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Limits of Ride-Sharing AI
New York’s bike share suffers from human resource issues that algorithms alone haven't solved.
Ride-sharing apps work well on individual interaction levels but fail hugely at solving city-wide transportation problems.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Avoid Ride-Sharing Mistakes
Don’t repeat ride-sharing’s flawed model in city infrastructure AI.
Design AI systems with a holistic view across individual and city scales to avoid multiplying big problems like traffic congestion.
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Dan Hill is the director of the Melbourne School of Design at the University of Melbourne, and author of Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary and Designing Missions. And he’s the opening speaker at the inaugural Designing with AI conference, where he’ll be presenting “Designing for the Infrastructures of Everyday Life”.
Like it or not, AI is a growing part of our infrastructure—not just the infrastructure of our phones, our computers, and the internet—but that of our physical world. It’s increasingly used to support the very fundamental systems that maintain our cities, hospitals, utilities, and educational systems. On some levels, this is cause for concern. After all, we’ve seen other implementations of AI (think riding-sharing services) that have not lived up to their promise but have instead aggravated some of the problems they sought to address.
Dan is a big-picture guy with an ability to draw principles from history and other sectors. He understands that utilizing AI is inevitable. The challenge is recognizing the interconnectedness of our various systems and working together to build infrastructures that truly create better life experiences for all.
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
- The many facets of infrastructures
- How AI is currently being used and how it might be used in the future to support our infrastructures
- Why ride-sharing is not exactly an AI model worth repeating
- Why the Japanese and Finnish models work well in those environments but aren’t necessarily transferable to more diverse cultures
- Why quality of life will only improve with a more holistic, integrated design approach
Quick Reference Guide
0:37 - Introduction of Dan
3:49 - AI as infrastructure
8:30 - How AI might be used to further support infrastructure systems
12:09 - Will the impact of AI actually make life better?
18:59 - Plug for Managing Priorities by Harry Max. Get 15% off!
20:15 - The metaphor of designing looking through a lens and technology’s impact on the material world
26:16 - Helpful models – the Japanese and Finnish cultures
31:52 - Dan’s gift to the audience
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary by Dan Hill https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Trojan-Horses-Vocabulary/dp/0992914639/
Managing Priorities: How to Create Better Plans and Make Smarter Decisions by Harry Max https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/managing-priorities/
Designing with AI Conference, June 4-5 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/events/futures/
Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Ashes-Opiums-Hidden-Histories/dp/0374602921
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