Rachel Price, Principal Information Architect at Microsoft, discusses responsible AI design. Topics include managing content challenges, generative AI impact on users, advocating for responsible AI practices in product design, navigating pitfalls of new technology, and understanding responsible AI stewardship essentials.
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Quick takeaways
Responsibly design AI-powered systems by understanding practical AI capabilities for conscientious user-centered outcomes.
Information architects face the challenge of balancing business objectives with user-centric design principles when integrating AI technologies.
Deep dives
Rachel Price's Role at Microsoft
Rachel Price, a principal information architect at Microsoft, is involved in managing one of the world's largest repositories of documentation and training content for technical users of Microsoft products. Her work covers a wide range from technical AI aspects to front-end UX design, forming part of a team of information architects that grapple with large-scale AI applications.
Challenges in Providing Content for Diverse Users
Rachel highlights the challenges faced in providing content for a varied audience, including developers, students, educators, and administrators. Acknowledging the need to cater to different user types beyond just technical users poses a philosophical challenge within information architecture, especially amidst the drive to empower users of Microsoft products.
Responsibly Designing AI-Powered Systems
The discussion shifts towards the responsible design of AI-powered systems, emphasizing the necessary shift in mindset for information architects to advocate for responsible AI design and development. Rachel underscores the importance of understanding AI capabilities from a practical standpoint to ensure conscientious design and user-centered outcomes.
Negotiating Business Needs and User-centric Design in AI Integration
The integration of AI technologies calls for a negotiation between business objectives and user needs. Balancing the top-down push for AI adoption with genuine user-centric design principles requires a nuanced approach from information architects to bridge the gap, prioritize realistic AI applications, and avoid falling into the trap of 'magical thinking' surrounding AI capabilities.
Rachel Price is a Principal Information Architect at Microsoft and teaches Information Architecture at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. She was a guest on The Informed Life in 2019, discussing the role of structure in improvisation. Today’s conversation focuses on a subject that’s on a lot of information architects’ minds: how to responsibly design AI-powered systems.