The Role of Design in the Age of AI: Products, Services, Processes, and Systems with Jodi Forlizzi

Abstract: We are experiencing unprecedented advances in technology. How we respond to these rapid changes through research and education is also changing. In this talk, I will define design and design research, then exemplify its use in my research, education, and practice. I will present interdisciplinary research on AI and automation in the hospitality workforce, showing how I led a team that incorporated worker voice and created new mechanisms for change management in creating, developing, and deploying AI in the workplace. I will also show how design skills play a role in developing consensus, policy, and governance, and how they can produce better outcomes, better relations, and a better world in which to live and work.

 Bio: Jodi Forlizzi is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Jodi has advocated for design research in all forms, mentoring peers, colleagues, and students in its structure and execution, and today it is an important part of the HCI community. Jodi studies the ethical impacts of human interaction with AI systems in front-line service industries including healthcare and hospitality. She studies the potential for AI to facilitate purposeful employment for people with disabilities. She also develops methods and tools to ensure that product developers can mitigate ethical harms and bias during product development. Jodi is an ACM SIGCHI Fellow and recently received its Lifetime Research Award. She recently testified to the US Senate in one an AI Innovation Briefing and is a central advisor to the AFL-CIO Tech Institute and the NIST Industrial Advisory Committee regarding technology research.