Why AI won’t replace UX designers in the nearest future
Artificial intelligence has brought a revolution in the history of man, and, undoubtedly is going to leave its deep marks for the ages yet to appear on the face of the earth. AI is engulfing every field rapidly, UX designs are no exception. Although AI is reshaping the world, the fear of human beings that there will be a stage when human element may be removed from the practical world always remained there.
The New York Times very rightly once claimed that AI “will be able to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its existence.”
Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates have warned that AI could plot to replace humans, or destroy us. This can be true to some extent but UX design is a specific department that needs a closer scrutiny before reaching to a conclusion.
There are a lot of abilities of UX designers that AI lacks, the abilities that will not let AI replace UX designers.
AI lacks the ability to research
A UX designer has to have a lot of research, field work, studying the reactions of the users, observing things practically, before planning to bring any changes in the future to the product under observation. This all cannot be done by a machine or software no matter what skills of design have been stored in it.
AI lacks creativity
A UX designer is creative while AI is entirely unable to think creatively. A UX designer observes the world around him, gets inspired by the ideas, examines reactions, has to have a report by moving in the society, interacts with the users to know their true remarks, and, changes his preferences keeping the feedback of the users in view. All these factors enable him to think creatively and to design accordingly while AI does not seem to do all this even in the far future.
AI lacks emotional intelligence and common sense
Emotional intelligence, a part of human psychology cannot be produced in AI because a machine lacks common sense and emotional intelligence as it is programmed, consequently unable to think out of the box while a UX designer is supposed to think beyond the set trends to attract more users. His intelligence and common sense makes him judge the users in a better way.
AI lacks imagination and intuition
Imagination and intuition are remarkably creative abilities of human beings that can never be added to the machines. The more a designer is imaginative the more he can create innovatively. There is no need of being imaginative while counting cash, the cashier’s job again to some extent has been replaced by the cash counter machine that still needs human hands to keep and pick the cash into it.
AI cannot think independently
AI, as it is programmed to the limited level, lacks the ability of thinking about the changing trends of a society, human behaviour, cultural study that a human can. There is a limited sphere AI is bound to work in while a UX designer does have the ability to think independently.
AI lacks adaptability
Adaptability is another feature of human beings that enables them to adjust according to the new situations while AI lacks adaptability. Sometimes a UX designer has to go against his personal liking in order to follow the trend of the town to attract more and more users while AI lacks this feature of adjusting in different situations.
AI lacks curiosity
Curiosity keeps man trying to find new ideas, variety of ways, and, innovative techniques. AI cannot be curious like a UX designer always is. A UX designer is always willing to learn, keeps on observing things, remains in touch with the people to understand the varied observations, and becomes a very good listener to develop new ideas as he understands the psychology of human beings. Curiosity is the thing that AI lacks while a designer has to be curious to be innovative.
Conclusion
‘‘Future is uncertain’’, is the only certain thing that can be said about future. No one knows what future is to bring with it for UX designers. In the past, a calculator was a threat to mathematicians but could not replace the man the way computer has brought wonderful ease in man’s life but could not replace the man, the operator. Auto pilot cars are an awe inspiring invention of today’s world, still depending upon humans; the strong sensors of auto pilot cars are unable to judge the situations outside the car like a human being is.
This is an undeniable fact that with the arrival of AI in the field of UX design has supported designers by completing huge tasks surprisingly quickly, helping them in one way or other; still there is no room for AI particularly in the field of UX Design to eliminate the human involvement. Therefore, there is no threat to UX designers to be removed by AI in the nearest future.
