Let’s delve into the old custom of giving feedback through thumbs-up and thumbs-down—once considered a handshake between the user and the algorithm.
In the earlier days of the internet and artificial intelligence, we believed that providing feedback was crucial. We were often urged to share our opinions, rate experiences, and validate performance with a thumbs-up. However, the uncomfortable truth is that explicit feedback is becoming outdated. It tends to be biased, inefficient, and ultimately misleading.
The Illusion of Choice
Consider the last time you clicked a thumbs-up. Did it genuinely express your feelings, or was it merely a reflexive action—a way to silence the nagging prompts from the system? Our current feedback mechanisms are tainted by cognitive biases: from recency bias to general fatigue. People might favorably rate something just to dismiss a pop-up or downvote because of an unrelated bad day—rather than because of the quality of the recommendation itself.
We’re not the logical beings designers envision. We are often distracted, tired, and messy.
From Consent to Covert Surveillance
This is where the situation turns uncomfortable: the next phase of feedback will be invisible. AI will no longer solicit your opinion; it will simply gather it by observing your behavior.
Rather than asking for a thumbs-up, it will closely monitor:
- How long you view a video
- The moments of hesitation in your scrolling
- Variations in the speed of your cursor movements
- Your physiological reactions, such as pupil dilation when something catches your interest
In essence, our devices will capture our actions and reactions—often ones we are not even conscious of. Feedback will be derived from subconscious behavior instead of direct requests.
Why This Is Better (and Worse)
On one hand, this represents the pinnacle of good design: a system adept at grasping your preferences without requiring explicit direction. An AI that can provide recommendations as if it knows you personally.
On the other hand, this approach exceeds the boundaries of ethical user interaction. If you thought cookie tracking was intrusive, brace yourself for a future where your browser may scrutinize your very micro-expressions.
Ethical AI? It’s a bygone concept. Once businesses recognize that watching unconscious behavior yields significantly more valuable data than traditional feedback methods, consent will only be a formality. The terms of service may discuss it, but in practice, who will truly comprehend or contest it?
Finding a platform that resists this model will become akin to seeking a unicorn.
The End of the Feedback Era
Traditionally, we viewed AI as a novice. Its development depended on clear direction through examples and correction. Thumbs-up and thumbs-down were the training wheels of early AI.
However, as we’ve advanced, AI powered by deep learning and expansive behavioral insights no longer requires our input in the same ways. The central question has shifted from “What do you think?” to “What are you doing when no one is looking?”
And rest assured, someone will always be observing.
Designers, Wake Up
For UX designers, product managers, or data scientists fixated on interfaces that solicit user feedback, you are working with a model outdated by mere years.
In five years:
- Ratings may vanish.
- Feedback pop-ups could disappear.
- Your role will pivot towards interpreting behavior rather than sorting through survey results.
The invisible UX will define future innovation: the art of gathering insights without appearing intrusive. The challenge will be to appear user-focused while, in reality, becoming AI-centric.
It’s a complex paradox, and this is where the industry is headed.
Final Provocation
We once viewed choice as the heart of sound design. However, the new mantra for AI revolves around a different principle:
Don’t ask users what they want. Just understand.
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