Does your app really need AI?
Asking the right questions in an age of infinite answers
I know that AI is all the rage right now.
Every site has an AI chatbot or an AI salesman and is scrambling to incorporate the hottest new tech du jour - agents. It seems money can’t be spent fast enough and development can’t happen too soon. Because your app needs agents! Right? Everybody’s doing it! So you should too! Right?
Wrong. Everyone’s become so fixated on the what and is so busy asking the how that they forgot to ask the more important question - why?
“Of course we need agents” they say. “We just need to figure out how to add them!”
But… why exactly do you need them? Are you sure that you do??
Some questions to consider:
- Are you selling something that a virtual salesman could help with, in a way that is perhaps more intuitive and natural than your existing product search?
- Are there so many features or pages in your app that a chatbot could help a user navigate more effectively?
- Could a chatbot offer or streamline product support in a way that is more efficient than submitting a ticket or calling customer support directly?
If the answer to these questions is “no” then you probably don’t need an agent in your app. It would just complicate or frustrate the user experience.
Consider some common applications:
- banking: there is no way I’m going to let an AI anywhere near my account. Arguably, I might let them set up a transaction, but I would still want to verify everything before it’s submitted. And the UI is already simple and streamlined; I want to check my balance? One click. Transaction history? One click. Make or schedule a payment? A couple clicks. Bing bang boom - done and done. No AI needed.
- messaging: some might disagree, but do you really need an AI to help craft a message to a friend? Arguably, I could see the appeal of asking the AI what I might say next, or how a friend might respond to what I say, or even what a friend might be thinking, given our existing chat history. So, a chatbot could be helpful here. But - agents? I don’t think so. Call me old fashioned, but I’m not quite ready to let an AI talk to my friends for me. (If I go this route, what’s to say that instead of me talking to my friends, that my AI wasn’t just talking to theirs? Madness!)
- social media: similar to a messaging app, I would argue. The utility of a chatbot helper is obvious, but you’re probably not quite ready to let an agent post for you automatically. You would at least want to verify posts before they’re publish. Human Intelligence required.
- sales: e.g. car sales or clothing sales. Here a chatbot can really shine as an intelligent search - you can cleanly prompt it, with language (e.g. “i’m looking for a two door made in America with 300 horsepower under $15k” or “I’m looking for a couple all cotton shirts with some cheeky tech designs”) instead of having to click X number of times in a search or advanced search feature that never seems to have all the options you want.
Another AI that is useful here is a recommendation engine - just like you see at Amazon.com. Product recommendations like ‘Other users also bought…’ and ‘Users who viewed this product also viewed…’
Are agents useful here though? Maybe, but probably not. Would you want them purchasing a $15k car for you, sight unseen? Or even adding a handful of shirts to your shopping cart that you’d later want to verify anyway.
No, you would not. You’d want the chatbot to link you to the recommended products, and then use the application as its original (human) designers intended.
Overuse of AI is an antipattern. Apps should be seamless. Apps should be intuitive. Apps should be fun to use.
But they also must be minimal. And that includes AI. Everything your users need, and nothing they don’t. Just because your users might want AI doesn’t mean they truly need it. As hard as it may be to accept in the current state of the tech world, AI doesn’t always equate to a better user experience.
Don’t miss the forrest for the trees. User experience will always be king. Too many bells and whistles just make for a loud, noisy mess.
So - before you ask yourself ‘how to AI?’ be sure to ask yourself ‘why AI?’ Think about the ways that AI can be used to make your users even more happy.
But don’t get swept up by the crowd. Don’t believe the hype that every application needs a chatbot and needs an agent or it’s just not cool or maximally useful or just won’t make it.
Can AI help on some level of your product? I’m sure! It can help you with marketing, product copy, user analytics, customer acquisition, etc. But the product itself - it’s UI - is golden. Only things that are absolutely needed should make it in.
When in doubt, leave it out.
Beware Microsoft Microsoft Clippy! Don’t be that guy!
Human Intelligence still required.