Planning for Natural Language Failures with the AI Playbook

2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |

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Prototyping AI user experiences is challenging due in part to probabilistic AI models making it difficult to anticipate, test, and mitigate AI failures before deployment. In this work, we set out to support practitioners with early AI prototyping, with a focus on natural language (NL)-based technologies. Our interviews with 12 NL practitioners from a large technology company revealed that, in addition to challenges prototyping AI, prototyping was often not happening at all or focused only on idealized scenarios due to a lack of tools and tight timelines. These findings informed our design of the AI Playbook, an interactive and low-cost tool we developed to encourage proactive and systematic consideration of AI errors before deployment. Our evaluation of the AI Playbook demonstrates its potential to 1) encourage product teams to prioritize both ideal and failure scenarios, 2) standardize the articulation of AI failures from a user experience perspective, and 3) act as a boundary object between user experience designers, data scientists, and engineers.

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Create human-centered AI with the Human-AI eXperience (HAX) Toolkit webinar

The tech industry is being called upon to develop and deploy AI technologies more responsibly. Yet many organizations that create AI technologies report being unprepared to address AI risks and failures. To meet these challenges, Microsoft is striving to take a human-centered approach to AI, designing and building technologies that benefit people and society while also mitigating potential harms. This includes understanding human needs and using that insight to drive development decisions from beginning to end. To assist AI practitioners in building human-centered AI, we are introducing the Human-AI eXperience (HAX) Toolkit, launching on July 19. This suite of tools spans the end-to-end product development lifecycle, providing support where AI practitioners have requested it. In this webinar, join Saleema Amershi, Senior Principal Research Manager, and…