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A ui is worth 1,000 tokens (at least). I agree that chat isn't the end interface for AI powered applications. That said the ability to describe desires in "fu

A ui is worth 1,000 tokens (at least). I agree that chat isn't the end interface for AI powered applications. That said the ability to describe desires in "fuzzy" ways is a usability value unlock. My take is that natural language should be use surface functionality, translate between structures, and generate personalize defaults. Its a hybrid approach and why my co-founder and I started https://tambo.co https://tambo.co

esafak 2y ago
It's only useful if the backend is wired to act on the request. LLMs handle the query understanding part, but it is still up to the backend developer to implement the functionality to fulfill the various possible requests. And the opaque nature of the interface gives the user no clue as to what requests are supported. We all experienced this problem with smart speakers, with their ever-changing features, and resigned to using an increasingly limited set of features.
himinlomax 2y ago
> That said the ability to describe desires in "fuzzy" ways is a usability value unlock. Ctl-Shift-P does the job where available. Not entirely sure how AI makes it any better.
felideon 2y ago
I think there’s merit in a hybrid approach, and more people should do this instead of slapping a chatbot everywhere, but your approach seems completely backwards from a usability perspective. Chat interfaces (edit: and similarly, CLIs) are at complete odds with discoverability[1]. In your demo, I’m trying to understand the point of the chatbot when all it does is convert a button, with a pretty decent CTA (“try sending us an email”), to a sentence in the first person? Why not a large “Compose Email” button? And if the chatbot can do more than one thing, how many of these potential “conversation starters” are you going to display? What we need are designers who can help establish a foundational structure (information architecture) that leads to discoverable and simple UIs to nudge users in the right direction. Once users are at a place where they know what’s possible/available, then perhaps you can allow some fuzziness to help them cross the line to accomplish their task. [1] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/discoverability https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/discove...

esafak 2y ago

It's only useful if the backend is wired to act on the request. LLMs handle the query understanding part, but it is still up to the backend developer to implement the functionality to fulfill the various possible requests. And the opaque nature of the interface gives the user no clue as to what requests are supported. We all experienced this problem with smart speakers, with their ever-changing features, and resigned to using an increasingly limited set of features.

himinlomax 2y ago

> That said the ability to describe desires in "fuzzy" ways is a usability value unlock. Ctl-Shift-P does the job where available. Not entirely sure how AI makes it any better.

felideon 2y ago

I think there’s merit in a hybrid approach, and more people should do this instead of slapping a chatbot everywhere, but your approach seems completely backwards from a usability perspective. Chat interfaces (edit: and similarly, CLIs) are at complete odds with discoverability[1]. In your demo, I’m trying to understand the point of the chatbot when all it does is convert a button, with a pretty decent CTA (“try sending us an email”), to a sentence in the first person? Why not a large “Compose Email” button? And if the chatbot can do more than one thing, how many of these potential “conversation starters” are you going to display? What we need are designers who can help establish a foundational structure (information architecture) that leads to discoverable and simple UIs to nudge users in the right direction. Once users are at a place where they know what’s possible/available, then perhaps you can allow some fuzziness to help them cross the line to accomplish their task. [1] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/discoverability https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/discove...