5 ms·

If something is a repetitive habit that you can do almost without thinking, there is a good chance an AI could infer that entire chain. I think what's more lik

If something is a repetitive habit that you can do almost without thinking, there is a good chance an AI could infer that entire chain. I think what's more likely is that an AI based interface will end up being superior after it has had a chance to observe your personal preferences and approach on a conventional UI. So both will still be needed, with an AI helping at the low end and high end of experience and the middle being a training zone as it learns you.

crazygringo 3y ago
I think I wasn't clear enough -- these habits I'm talking about are things like "press cold water button, press start" or "press warm water button, press start" or "tap 'News' app grouping, tap 'NY Times' icon". There's nothing to infer. The sequence is already short. There are no benefits from AI here. But you raise a good point, which is that there are occasionally things like 15-step processes that people repeat a bunch of times, that the AI can observe and then take over. So basically useful in programming macros/shortcuts as well. But that still requires the original UI -- it doesn't replace it.
- JoeAltmaier 3y ago
  I don't know - the timer app on my oven is trivial too. But I always, always use Alexa to start timers. My hands are busy, so I can just ask "How many minutes left on the tea timer?" Voice is not really clumsy, compared to finding a device, browsing to an app, remembering the interface etc. Already when we meet a new app, we (I) often ask someone to show me around or tell me where the feature is that I want. Not any easier than asking my house AI. Harder really. Hard to underestimate the laziness of humans. I'll get very accustomed to asking my AI to do ordinary things. Already I never poke at the search menu in my TV; I ask Alexa to search for me. So, so much easier. Always available. Never have to spell anything.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    I think we're basically in agreement though. Everyone agrees setting timers in the kitchen via voice is great precisely because your hands are occupied. It's a special case. (And often used as the example of the only thing people end up consistently using their voice assistant for.) And asking an AI where a feature is in an app -- that's exactly what I was describing. The app still has its UX though. But this is exactly the learning assistance I was describing. And as for searching with Alexa, of course -- but that's just voice dictation instead of typing. Nothing to do with LLM's or interfaces.
    - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
      Alexa's search is a little different - it's context-independent. I can ask for a search from any point in the TV app - in some other menu, while watching another show, heck even when the TV is turned off. And when describing apps - I imagine the AI is an app-free environment, where I just ask those questions of my AI assistant, in lieu of poking at an app at all.
- Workaccount2 3y ago
  I totally get your point, but I think that AI will allow much "smarter" behavior. Where every appliance is an expert in doing what it is intended to do. So sure, it will still have buttons, but those buttons are really just preset AI prompts on the backend. You can also just talk to your appliance and nuance your request however you want to. A TV with a remote whose channel button just prompts "Next channel" but if you want you would just talk to your TV and say "Skip 10 channels" or "make the channel button do (arbitrary behavior)" The shortcuts will definitely stay, but they will behave closer to "ring bell for service" than "press selection to vend".
- nuancebydefault 3y ago
  Most user interfaces already have a much finer granularity and number of options than your examples. When taking a shower, I would like fine control over the water temperature, preferably with a feedback loop regulating the temperature. (Preferably also the regulation changes over the duration of the showering.) Choosing to read the NY times indeed is only a few taps away, but navigating through and within its list of articles is nowadays done quite fast and intuitively thanks to quite a lot of UI advancements. My point being, short sequences are a very limited set within a vast UI space. People go for convenience and speed, oftentimes even if there's some accuracy cost. AI fulfills this preference, especially because it can learn on the go.
  - sarchertech 3y ago
    > When taking a shower, I would like fine control over the water temperature, preferably with a feedback loop regulating the temperature. (Preferably also the regulation changes over the duration of the showering.) That exists, but it’s expensive because of the electronics and mechanics involved. There are so many interfaces with this exact problem. You also almost certainly don’t want non-deterministic hallucination prone AI controlling physical systems.
    - bodhi_mind 3y ago
      Maybe I misunderstood the op, but isn’t the mechanical faucet and our body’s temperature receptors this “fine control with feedback loop”?
      - nuancebydefault 3y ago
        Indeed, and to take the UI a step further, humans often prefer automation, if it works reliable. A complicated UI would become simple, just step into the shower.
        sarchertech 3y ago
        There’s no complicated UI. You just turn a knob that sets a digital temperature readout. If you want the shower to save your temperature preferences and start automatically, there’s no reason to build in a computer capable of running an AI. But in reality you almost certainly don’t want a system like this because you don’t want an AI accidentally turning on your shower when you’re not home, when you do ok to clean it, or grab a razor, or when your toddler wanders in. Granted an AI could try to determine intent, but it’s never going to get it 100% right. Which is why for physical systems like this you almost always want a physical button to signal intent.
birdyrooster 3y ago
Like on Apple Watch Ultra, when I press the start exercise button, the exercises that it suggests are in an order unique to my baseline activities.

crazygringo 3y ago

I think I wasn't clear enough -- these habits I'm talking about are things like "press cold water button, press start" or "press warm water button, press start" or "tap 'News' app grouping, tap 'NY Times' icon". There's nothing to infer. The sequence is already short. There are no benefits from AI here. But you raise a good point, which is that there are occasionally things like 15-step processes that people repeat a bunch of times, that the AI can observe and then take over. So basically useful in programming macros/shortcuts as well. But that still requires the original UI -- it doesn't replace it.

JoeAltmaier 3y ago
I don't know - the timer app on my oven is trivial too. But I always, always use Alexa to start timers. My hands are busy, so I can just ask "How many minutes left on the tea timer?" Voice is not really clumsy, compared to finding a device, browsing to an app, remembering the interface etc. Already when we meet a new app, we (I) often ask someone to show me around or tell me where the feature is that I want. Not any easier than asking my house AI. Harder really. Hard to underestimate the laziness of humans. I'll get very accustomed to asking my AI to do ordinary things. Already I never poke at the search menu in my TV; I ask Alexa to search for me. So, so much easier. Always available. Never have to spell anything.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  I think we're basically in agreement though. Everyone agrees setting timers in the kitchen via voice is great precisely because your hands are occupied. It's a special case. (And often used as the example of the only thing people end up consistently using their voice assistant for.) And asking an AI where a feature is in an app -- that's exactly what I was describing. The app still has its UX though. But this is exactly the learning assistance I was describing. And as for searching with Alexa, of course -- but that's just voice dictation instead of typing. Nothing to do with LLM's or interfaces.
  - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
    Alexa's search is a little different - it's context-independent. I can ask for a search from any point in the TV app - in some other menu, while watching another show, heck even when the TV is turned off. And when describing apps - I imagine the AI is an app-free environment, where I just ask those questions of my AI assistant, in lieu of poking at an app at all.
Workaccount2 3y ago
I totally get your point, but I think that AI will allow much "smarter" behavior. Where every appliance is an expert in doing what it is intended to do. So sure, it will still have buttons, but those buttons are really just preset AI prompts on the backend. You can also just talk to your appliance and nuance your request however you want to. A TV with a remote whose channel button just prompts "Next channel" but if you want you would just talk to your TV and say "Skip 10 channels" or "make the channel button do (arbitrary behavior)" The shortcuts will definitely stay, but they will behave closer to "ring bell for service" than "press selection to vend".
nuancebydefault 3y ago
Most user interfaces already have a much finer granularity and number of options than your examples. When taking a shower, I would like fine control over the water temperature, preferably with a feedback loop regulating the temperature. (Preferably also the regulation changes over the duration of the showering.) Choosing to read the NY times indeed is only a few taps away, but navigating through and within its list of articles is nowadays done quite fast and intuitively thanks to quite a lot of UI advancements. My point being, short sequences are a very limited set within a vast UI space. People go for convenience and speed, oftentimes even if there's some accuracy cost. AI fulfills this preference, especially because it can learn on the go.
- sarchertech 3y ago
  > When taking a shower, I would like fine control over the water temperature, preferably with a feedback loop regulating the temperature. (Preferably also the regulation changes over the duration of the showering.) That exists, but it’s expensive because of the electronics and mechanics involved. There are so many interfaces with this exact problem. You also almost certainly don’t want non-deterministic hallucination prone AI controlling physical systems.
  - bodhi_mind 3y ago
    Maybe I misunderstood the op, but isn’t the mechanical faucet and our body’s temperature receptors this “fine control with feedback loop”?
    - nuancebydefault 3y ago
      Indeed, and to take the UI a step further, humans often prefer automation, if it works reliable. A complicated UI would become simple, just step into the shower.
      - sarchertech 3y ago
        There’s no complicated UI. You just turn a knob that sets a digital temperature readout. If you want the shower to save your temperature preferences and start automatically, there’s no reason to build in a computer capable of running an AI. But in reality you almost certainly don’t want a system like this because you don’t want an AI accidentally turning on your shower when you’re not home, when you do ok to clean it, or grab a razor, or when your toddler wanders in. Granted an AI could try to determine intent, but it’s never going to get it 100% right. Which is why for physical systems like this you almost always want a physical button to signal intent.

birdyrooster 3y ago

Like on Apple Watch Ultra, when I press the start exercise button, the exercises that it suggests are in an order unique to my baseline activities.