Mostly Bad News Edition
Not an encouraging week of AI news
Gentle reader, as Miss Manners used to say, I should forewarn you that this newsletter contains some unsavory content. While I am generally a positive and optimistic person, I was certainly discouraged by some of the things I encountered this week. If you are having a hard day, or are discouraged by the state of the world, you might want to skip this one. I’ll try to squeeze some good news in at the end.
The End of the Golden Era of UX Design?
I don’t mean to sound cynical or discourage anyone about entering a career in UX design. I still remember how excited I was when I began teaching it over ten years ago and how enthusiastic I’ve felt over most of the last decade. However, I’ve read several articles recently that point out the same phenomena as AI infiltrates UX. It has become less about solving problems for people and mostly a means for maximizing returns for shareholders. While I’m sure that their are still great companies and great teams out there, I think they are becoming less common. If you are new to UX design, or considering it as a career path, I would encourage you to read the Downward spiral effecting our digital products, by Luis Berumen Castro. He provides a very sobering look at how large corporations invest heavily in UX in the begin to forge delight and trust, but deplete those resources during later phases of the product life cycle. It’s a little depressing, but I read a lot of newsletters every week and it’s been recommended several times. Plus, you’ll learn how to use the term “Enshittification”.
In 2022, Cory Doctorow brought the term back into the spotlight, describing a gradual process in which digital platforms deteriorate in quality and user experience. This shift represents a departure from value-creation driven by user-centric needs towards profit optimization for stakeholders no matter what.
The Deep Fakes are coming Have Arrived
You probably saw this coming as well since it was only a matter of time. The AI deep fake news that hit the news was both mundane (Biden robocalls) and depressing (Taylor Swift porn). I don’t really like writing about this and I don’t know if it means that there a just a few bad operators or it reveals how awful we are as a culture. If you are interested in learning more about this subject, and the challenges faced by people trying to address it, the Verge has a great article exploring the problem. Check it out
One of the most prominent examples on X attracted more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts, and hundreds of thousands of likes and bookmarks before the verified user who shared the images had their account suspended for violating platform policy. The post was live on the platform for around 17 hours prior to its removal.
Shelly Palmer: Default to Distrust
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University and I read his work on a regular basis. In this post he outlines some basic requirements for AI literacy in the coming era. Check it out
Embracing a “default to distrust” mindset when dealing with AI-generated content can encourage critical thinking, fact-checking, and verification. This approach helps protect us from the pitfalls of deepfakes, misinformation, and deceptive content. As it becomes more challenging to tell AI-generated content apart from genuine human work, it’s essential to approach all online content with a healthy dose of skepticism.
The Tech Layoffs Continue Through January
While not as bad as the layoffs in January of 23, big tech let go of 10,000 more people last week while recording record profits. If your 401k plan is looking pretty good, it’s probably because the S&P 500 closed at a record high last week. And a big part of that is driven by these seven companies: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta; sometimes referred to as “the Magnificent seven” . In 2023, these stocks have risen an average of 105%. While Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia have not laid people off recently, the others have, while investing billions into generative AI. If you’d like a deeper explanation, read this article from Axios or this one from Quartz.
And, Now for Some Good News
Andreesen Horowitz has an excellent article on the evolution of ‘Prosumer AI Tools’ and singles out many of the products I’ve mentioned in this newsletter. Several of my students are currently working on designing a “Better UI for Generative AI” and this will be required reading for them. So if you’re a UX designer who works on digital tools and would like some recommendations, or you’re a creative who just wants to see the new cool kids, check it out
On the most surface level, we believe AI will help users do their existing work more efficiently. AI-native platforms will “up level” user interactions with software, allowing them to delegate lower skill tasks to an AI assistant and spend their time on higher-level thinking. This applies not only to traditional office workers, but to small business owners, freelancers, creators, and artists — who arguably have even more complex demands on their time.
Adobe's New AI Audio Tools are Here
To be honest, I’m no expert with Adobe Premiere, but I was certainly motivated to up my video editing game when I read about their new AI powered audio tools. If you edit video professionally, you should read this article, or just watch the video below.
Nightshade Downloaded Over 250k Times
Nightshade, a new, free downloadable tool created by computer science researchers at the University of Chicago designed to be used by artists to disrupt AI models scraping and training on their artworks without consent, has received 250,000 downloads in the first five days of its release. Check it out
Nightshade hit 250K downloads in 5 days since release. I expected it to be extremely high enthusiasm. But I still underestimated it…The response is simply beyond anything we imagined.
That’s it for today, sorry about all the downers. I’ve been playing with a bunch of exciting new tools and I’ll be back on my regular routine for the Friday edition. I hope all your creative endeavors are going well and you have some spark and joy in your life. If you have any questions, suggestions, or hot tips, please send them my way!