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Sometimes I talked to people about AI. When AI has actually entered our lives, they often put a big question mark on the confused face:

“You said that artificial intelligence is around, I can’t feel it? Life is no different from the original.”

In the beginning, I will also take people’s mobile phone as an example. For example, when taking a photo, the phone will recognize the scene and then automatically adjust the filter, or AI, even the most common voice assistant Siri, Xiaoai Ah, small art, and so on, these are the performances of using AI technology.

But after talking more times, I found that there are more than one ordinary person with this kind of question. They often enjoy the technological fun and convenience brought by artificial intelligence, but they don’t know anything about it. They think that this is just a routine upgrade of technology.

I faintly think that at least for ordinary people, artificial intelligence may be hidden too deeply at this stage. Can there be any way to make people feel the existence of AI when they fully use AI?

Maybe, it’s time to add a “placebo button” to the AI.

What is a “placebo button”?

In medicine, there is a term called “placebo effect”. Generally speaking, doctors add several “pills” that are actually starch or other harmless and unhelpful ingredients to the patient, and then tell him these kinds. After the “medicine” is eaten, it will have a miraculous effect on the relief of the disease, and some patients do have symptomatic relief after taking it. This is the “placebo effect.” The few useless “pills” are called “placebos.”

I believe it is easy for readers to understand that the so-called “placebo effect” is actually just a psychological effect of a patient’s suggestion.

By this idea, in reality, the “placebo button” is widely used by product managers for various designs..

For example, in Europe and the United States, the “close” button in the elevator actually has no effect. Its existence is only to provide people with a kind of psychological comfort. In fact, after closing the door, the elevator closing time is not And shortening, but people feel shortened.

Also on the design of the traffic light button. Earlier, the green light of the sidewalks in some European and American countries could be manually controlled. If the pedestrians were anxious to cross the road and there was no car in the horizontal direction, the green light could be illuminated in advance. However, after the green lights were all changed to computer control, the removal of the buttons was not a small expense, so the municipal department simply left them, but did not inform the public that the button had been “failed”. To this day, there are still people who are anxious to press the green light button – although it is useless, but the elevator is closed.

In electronic technology products, the frequency of this “placebo button” is more common. For example, the progress bar displayed when the computer transfers files does not have anything to do with the transmission; WeChat sweeps to help you locate the street view, which actually uses the mobile phone positioning system instead of the real street view; the app often enters the interface for a few seconds. Advertising, and you can choose to skip it – please like me, every time I will skip the friends to raise a hand?

As for jumping without skipping, we all have a number of hearts…

There is a question: Why do you need a “placebo button” from elevators to traffic lights to computer software to mobile apps?

It can be understood that meaningless waiting and uncontrollable progress are important factors that cause people to lose patience and irritability while processing tasks. Therefore, in order to let people feel the improvement of efficiency and thus reduce people’s anxiety, the design of “placebo button” is very necessary.

On the other hand, for Internet electronic technology products, setting a “placebo button” such as a progress bar also has a certain ugly effect. For example, the speed at which a product is transmitted is inherently slow, but it does not want to expose the user to these shortcomings, so a step-by-step procedure is split on the progress bar: scanning, reading, sorting, transmitting… I am telling you that I am working hard and working hard; at the same time, letting users clearly know the progress and process can also alleviate anxiety.

This type of design has achieved very good results in many ways. So, for artificial intelligence, can you copy the product design in the same way?

Placebo button: User’s and product’s

Before solving the last problem, we must be clear about two aspects.

First, adding a placebo to artificial intelligence is not because it is too slow, but because it is too fast.

We know that artificial intelligence is actually a low-latency operation. When the power is satisfied, its task processing is extremely fast. Many tasks are in me.They have already been processed unconsciously, which makes it easy for ordinary users to think that AI is still far away, and even AI is useless at all.

It is this extremely fast speed that greatly reduces the time lag between processing and output, which creates a “suspected invisibility” of AI.

Second, why do we need to add a “placebo button” to the AI?

The most intuitive answer, perhaps as explained at the beginning of this article, allows more people to feel the existence of AI.

Towards the big one, as the coolest and most practical technology in human history, the emergence of AI may completely overthrow the world. Combined with technologies such as cloud computing and 5G, it has already changed life and industry locally, and it is having a continuous impact on the momentum of the spark. When such revolutionary technology appears around us, we have the right to touch its existence, feel its heartbeat, and resonate with the pulse of the world.

Small to say, when we find that AI is around, maybe we can feel a little joy and surprise for this slightly sci-fi reality, and life may add a lot of fun, such as talking after a meal, or Amazing power of a certain AI ability.

Another answer is hidden in the product.

Use the mobile app as an example. The AI ​​chip is equipped to make the mobile phone look like a lot of AI tasks, and a large number of developers have already optimized the App based on AI technology. But why let users know that your app is optimized?

Speed ​​is getting faster? He would think it was a regular technology upgrade; how many patterns are there? He would think that the developer’s creativity is looming.

In short, an app loaded with AI functionality, if you let AI and users hide and seek, it is equal to white.

Therefore, through the “placebo button”, it is extremely important for the App to let the user perceive the charm of AI and its function, and then form a strong usage habit. After all, when many people still think that AI is just a gimmick, why not really reflect this “gimmick”?

Through the display of AI capabilities, users can develop and even use their products to expand their market, and become one of the functions of AI “placebo button”.. If so, the other is the same.

Fancy AI “Placebo Button” is now recorded

So, what are the possibilities for the AI ​​”placebo button” design? We can give a few examples.

For example, the most common voice interaction. When asking a question from a voice assistant, once he encounters a blind spot of knowledge, he often replies “I don’t seem to understand” very dryly. Can’t understand AI? The sorrowful color is estimated to be revealed.

So, if this answer is changed in another way, such as recording a word that you don’t understand, and then saying “I don’t know the word, can you teach me?” can produce better interaction. And the most outstanding ability of AI is learning. When you master the vocabulary, and then ask, the user may get a satisfactory answer. The transition from “ignorance” to “knowledge” not only reflects AI’s strong learning ability, but also enhances people’s confidence in the future of AI.

Photo capabilities that are or are often called. When most mobile phones take pictures today, they often automatically recognize the scene, or add a scene category such as blue sky, grass, green plants, etc. at a position that is not prominent, and the AI ​​ability is weak. If you can add a sci-fi effect when you identify the scene, such as the flywheel rotation or the eye-catching recognition process, let the user feel the process of AI calculation, and naturally can also show the AI ​​ability.

Another example is a smart camera that is widely used in security. The use of intelligent security is not only to play back the scene after the event, but also to analyze, predict and judge beforehand, so-called prevention. Nowadays, there is not much difference between the smart camera and the ordinary camera in appearance. It is difficult to distinguish it if the average person does not pay attention. Then, if there are a few eye-catching AI indicators on the smart camera, AI is beautiful, and it is also a shock to those who try to commit crimes.

After all, punishing a criminal is justified, but blocking a crime, saving a life, protecting a group of innocents is obviously more important.

Of course, AI has to let users perceive its existence, and its approach is much more than that. There is still a lot to go for product designers. Putting a “placebo button” on the AI ​​not only enhances the user experience, but also expands the product coverage. It can also be seen as an AI popularization that is unintentionally developed.