Abstract
Designers deploy metaphors in various constructive ways but there is a challenge in noticing and selecting helpful metaphors to describe AI systems. Metaphors serve to highlight certain aspects of AI but their influence can be so potent that envisioning or discussing AI in alternative ways becomes challenging, with unwanted expectations, lazy tropes and hidden biases. Alternative metaphors help designers grasp distinctive qualities of AI and move past hidden assumptions. Hence, it is key to support designers in precise, plural and intentional metaphor use to grasp unique qualities of AI and explore its relationalities. We illustrate this through a selection of prototyping journeys in which metaphors directly shaped students’ design trajectories and allowed them to explore the relational, entangled complexities of AI systems. Finally, ‘metaphor gardening,' provides a series of recommendations for designers when designing AI with metaphors, which we hope can ultimately support a generative and responsible approach to AI technologies.
Keywords
artificial intelligence; interaction design; metaphors; prototyping
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.376
Citation
Murray-Rust, D., Luce Lupetti, M., and Nicenboim, I. (2024) Metaphor Gardening: Experiential engagements for designing AI interactions, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.376
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Metaphor Gardening: Experiential engagements for designing AI interactions
Designers deploy metaphors in various constructive ways but there is a challenge in noticing and selecting helpful metaphors to describe AI systems. Metaphors serve to highlight certain aspects of AI but their influence can be so potent that envisioning or discussing AI in alternative ways becomes challenging, with unwanted expectations, lazy tropes and hidden biases. Alternative metaphors help designers grasp distinctive qualities of AI and move past hidden assumptions. Hence, it is key to support designers in precise, plural and intentional metaphor use to grasp unique qualities of AI and explore its relationalities. We illustrate this through a selection of prototyping journeys in which metaphors directly shaped students’ design trajectories and allowed them to explore the relational, entangled complexities of AI systems. Finally, ‘metaphor gardening,' provides a series of recommendations for designers when designing AI with metaphors, which we hope can ultimately support a generative and responsible approach to AI technologies.