**AI is in the process of taking over our digital life**, but in the meantime we've finally got out of the initial era of text input only interfaces, to now evolve into new different ways to obtain better outputs from LLMs.

As a designer, I’ve always learned by observing, fascinated by patterns, and then reproducing them in order to expand ideas or create new ones.

So for these series of articles that I've been [waiting to write](https://twitter.com/omartosca/status/1706354065947398642) for the last 6 months, I took a trip through **the most compelling AI products out there** and wrote down everything I learned from them, exploring mostly the main use cases and how pioneering designers are solving problems with new interaction patterns.

This series could serve as a guide for people not familiar to AI that already want to design new digital products with a AI first mindset.

> *Note:* I focused on products I know well, rather than researching a larger pool *with a little help from [There’s An AI for That](https://theresanaiforthat.com/) and [Product Hunt](https://www.producthunt.com/topics/artificial-intelligence). If you have any other suggestion to add to the list, please, [reach out to me](https://twitter.com/omartosca) or just leave a comment at the end of the article.*

## Updates on the series

*January 31st, 2024*

This first post will serve as an introduction to the nine originally planned parts. Part 1 will become available soon, as I’m finalizing last details before publishing. Possible new parts will be updated here as well.

## Index

Here are the topics we will cover on each article of the series.

Each part (except the first one) will be focused on a particular use case of AI and how design is leveraging each one of this products for real users.

### Part 1: The basics

* Why AI is becoming so important for designers?

* The current landscape

* Interaction Models

* Interaction Patterns

* Interaction Cues

### Part 2: Having *good* conversations

* Not just good enough, way better chats with robots

* The Know-It-Alls

* Specialists in the matter

* Dealing with prompting

### Part 3: Looking for answers

* The race to become the next Google
* Better answers  from the right sources

### Part 4: Generating more than just words

* Text-to-image

* Text-to-video

* Text-to-music

* Text-to-more-text

* Dealing (again) with prompting

### Part 5: Modifying reality

* Expanding horizons for current images

* Final touches from AI artists

### Part 6: Processing a bunch of data

* Researching with a little help

* Getting insights

* Copiloting

### Part 7: Designing together

* Dreaming interfaces

* Designing for me

* Being my peer

* Could AI be able to create an interface for specific purposes?

### Part 8: Augmenting what we already have

* Analyzing and providing a summary

* Giving suggestions

* Improving current media

### Part 9: The Rabbit in the room

* Old sharks in the tank

* New Kids on the Block

* What about the left behinds?

UI for AI: The Series

Duplicating this [original post by Fede Sánchez](https://read.cv/fsanchez/app-defaults) that I found on [Andy post](https://read.cv/andy/app-defaults-2023).

List of app defaults I am currently using:

* Mobile Design & Prototyping → Figma

* Web Design → Figma/Framer

* Mail Client → Hey!

* Notes → Bear

* To-Do → Todoist

* Calendar → Amie

* RSS → Ares / Twine (Android)

* Contacts → Google Contacts

* Browser → Arc

* Chat → Telegram / WA

* Bookmarks → mymind

* Read It Later → mymind

* Word Processing → Bear

* Spreadsheets → Google Sheets

* Presentations → Pitch

* Shopping Lists → Google Keep

* Meal Planning → N/A

* Budgeting and Personal Finance → Google Sheets

* News → Artifact / Twitter

* Music → YouTube Music

* Podcasts → Pocket Casts

* 🆕 Newsletters → Hey / Substack

* Code → N/A

App Defaults · 2023

I don't think this tweet has aged well for me.

There were some things that I considered when adding "AI" as part of the "dummy/deceitful trend", but I'm pretty sure part of the skepticism was a little bit of fear.

Did I just saw a trend in raise with no clear future? Was I just angry at my previous job and therefore just spitting negativity?

It is now December of the same year, just barely 5 months later and [my thoughts on AI](https://twitter.com/search?q=@omartosca%20ai&src=typed_query&f=live) have completely changed. I've already made the leap of faith.

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/omartosca/status/1696955029968572531?s=20
```

## From trend to reality

First thing first, lets address my Google bias. I've been following AI progress from Google for a long time, including [adding AI into the Pixel](https://blog.google/technology/ai/the-best-hardware-software-and-ai-together/) phones, their wins with [Alpha-Go against humans](https://deepmind.google/technologies/alphago/) or their applications of [AI in science](https://deepmind.google/impact/meet-the-scientists-using-alphafold/).

Actually, one of the first things I remember regarding AI, were [the dreams that were initially shared](https://blog.research.google/2015/06/inceptionism-going-deeper-into-neural.html) by Google Research. I remember thinking immediately "do robots dream of electric sheep?". Now it is clear that LLMs [are just dream machines](https://x.com/karpathy/status/1733299213503787018?s=20).

But then, my reactions to others doing the same was being skeptical. How did they get into it faster than the ones that have been doing it for years? Well, it turns out, I was trapped in my own echo chamber.

The AI Wars was something that has been cooking for a long time now. And in some ways I wasn't late to it, but in others I was behind the trend.

In the last 5 months, I took a race to update myself and surf the trend again. A lot in the AI field has already changed, including the things that I'm reading about it. Here I share my highlights:

* Google finally started stepping up in the AI battle with OpenAI, first by launching and [improving Bard](https://bard.google.com/updates), and then by [unveiling Gemini](https://deepmind.google/technologies/gemini/#introduction). I know they have lost the initial battle on marketing AI to the masses, but I've been following Google Brain and Deepmind for a while now, and I really love the way they made progress in the past. I won't stop seeing them as pioneers in the field applied to actual use cases.

* The Browser Company launched some really good features for Arc (my default browser) with [Arc Max](https://arc.net/max). What I love about them is the way they are using AI to provide value to users, they found good use cases to apply AI when actually browsing the web.

* OpenAI [had their own drama](https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/29/23982046/sam-altman-interview-openai-ceo-rehired) leading to conspiracy theories around finding AGI internally. For me, it was more a political move, but it gave me enough context to understand better things outside the Google bubble. Including [a list of companies](https://arc.net/folder/5B8B71CA-F667-4836-BDDB-9180D9ACBA17) some OpenAI employees would prefer to go rather than Microsoft.

* Some companies like Semplice (that I respect a lot), [made an statement](https://twitter.com/semplicelabs/status/1722701660873466254) regarding avoiding using AI as part of their product. A statement that I totally agree with. Not all the companies or products should or need any random AI feature. We are still exploring frontiers, and it will take a while until we arrive into the right place.

* I've got some interesting interactions with AI, first within my new Pixel 8 Pro (the first phone to [get Gemini Nano](https://store.google.com/intl/en/ideas/articles/pixel-feature-drop-december-2023/)). I was really impressed by Magic Editor, and how it is sooo close to what Adobe did with Generative Fill on Photoshop with even less power.

* And then by trying [Pi by Inflection, a type of AI](https://inflection.ai/) designed to be kind and helpful, one that I used for extending my conversations with my therapist. It is as weird, as helpful as it sounds.

### Some extra content worth nothing

Even before I changed my mind, I was already consuming content related to AI. Not only this content helped me understand better how the technology works, but also how to use it on my own day to day and by extension applying into the products I design for.

* [The Deepmind Podcast](https://deepmind.google/discover/the-podcast/) with Hanna Fry. A great podcast with just 2 seasons that talks about the history and achievements of Deepmind. It gets into the basics of AI.

* [Is AI the end of photography as we know it?](https://youtu.be/10-X5D8n7eI?si=EY-7Zv7N-DDDLXP3). Becka for The Verge. A great recent video on how creating pictures through AI could be a form of art on itself.

* [People + AI Guidebook](https://pair.withgoogle.com/guidebook/patterns). A great source for designers to start when trying to get into designing AI for people.

### Some thoughts around Conversational UI

After all this months of re-learning, I read again [my own tweets](https://x.com/omartosca/status/1706354065947398642?s=20). It turns out, I'm against chat bots, not AI per se. This is a larger conversation that I would like to address in another post but basically, for me conversational interfaces shouldn't be the only way to interact with this new type of machines. But it means we are still in the beginnings of exploring how to interact with LLMs and for now (even with multi-modal) prompting will remain as the main communication with them.

## Taking Shortcuts

Last, but not least, the thing that finally drove me towards AI was [my own company](https://shortcut.is/). When we started working on it, 4 months ago, I was already switching my thoughts, but actually working with AI and applying it, was the last thing I needed to believe in this massive and (now for me) exciting technology.

In some way, I'm still a skeptical, but definitely not in the same way.

> "Are we really aware that moving fast with AI could become very dangerous?
>
> Researchers have been warning about this for years and yet we like to see people like Sama go all on it.
>
> On a business level it is great, but what about other consequences?"

```cv
tweet
https://twitter.com/omartosca/status/1725802346758672484?s=20
```

I was skeptical, but now AI believe

Signed the second most important deal of my life!

Product Designer

No le temas a la oscuridad del Dark Mode

[In Spanish]

Sobre la tendencia de los dark themes en el diseño de interfaces y básicos para adoptarla como diseñadores.

One Design Framework to Rule Them All

With their similarities and differences, iOS and Android interfaces share a deeper connection than you think.

Why Less Features Mean More Value

A story about how we designed a super simple experience to send money between friends.

"I always thought that you always needed to manage people all the time to improve. Some designers just want to improve their skills. They want to be better at illustration or managing colors. And that's good too. If that's the way, you want to go at that time of your life." 

– Omar Tosca

Podcast appearence: Day in the Life of a Interaction Designer in Mexico City

We worked with Eiya! (logistics provider for SMBs) to improve the tracking, shipping and picking system visualization, to enhance customer satisfaction. 

We redesigned the admin platform for e-commerce, built a service map through which we identified the main pain-points (non-responsive design, fails in the invoicing system, order status not updated, and lack of visibility of coverage areas).

🚴🏽‍♂️ Delivering customer happiness through design

We helped Swap to understand the primary needs of consumers when making bank transfers by breaking down assumptions and creating a natural adoption product instead. 

The result was Swap, an app that allows making bank transfers, even from WhatsApp, any time and any day, regardless of the bank. 

The user that receives the transfer only needs to put the digits of the sender’s card on the screen displayed on the link or through a QR code at ATMs in the Bancomer network.

💵 Making bank transfers as easy as sending a WhatsApp message

We helped ConCrédito, a microcredit company to redesign their app for Android by deeply understanding their users: women. We realized most of them had long nails and found difficult to press buttons accurately. 

By designing bigger buttons and simplifying the app, the results impacted the users positively. We got great reviews and happier users providing them a better experience to manage their businesses.

🏦 Impacting more than 30,000 working women

Infosel Hub is a new platform made by the most older competition of Bloomberg in Mexico.

We design and launch from cero a new platform to compete with new trading platforms around the world.

From concept to launch: Infosel 🚀

Redefining a 30 year old trading platform 📈

Bridgefy is a free messaging app that works without the Internet. Perfect for natural disasters, large events, and at school. 💬

We redesign their apps for Android and iOS and prepare them for coming features they added to their apps.

💬 Offline messaging app

Conversations in Spanish about design, work culture and futures.

Producer, director, host and editor.

Diseño con Ñ Podcast

Fanco was a mobile platform created to monetize your exclusive content. Lives for and within the creator economy.

I've designed the first version of the iOS app.

The right app for the creator economy

Podcast from 23 Design studio team that reflected company culture and vision.

Producer, director, host and editor.

Learn how we created La Barra [In Spanish]: https://medium.com/design-thoughts-case-studies/creando-un-podcast-al-estilo-23-34f78929b999

La Barra Podcast

Applying Material You and taking it to the next level to build the most beautiful RSS Reader for Android.

The best RSS reader on Android

When 23 Design started in 2015, we set out to push design and ourselves forward.

Over the years we built an exceptional team around this mission. It was not easy, but it was rewarding. We promoted the design in the region, worked with amazing clients - from Palo Alto to Tel Aviv - and touched the lives of millions of people through the 200+ brands, products and services that we launched together. That’s something we’ll always be proud of.

Omar worked on almost 50 different projects as a user interface designer at 23 Design.

User Interface Designer

Over the past decade, we've witnessed the limitations of traditional design methods. They're slow, inefficient, and fail to harness the power of technology.

At Shortcut, we're not just about crafting aesthetically pleasing designs; we're about accelerating product launches, amplifying fundraising efforts, and empowering you to outpace your competitors.

Our team of seasoned designers, equipped with cutting-edge tools, is ready to transform your ideas into reality.

Co-founder

frog is a leading global creative consultancy, part of Capgemini Invent. Partnering with passionate leaders and visionary entrepreneurs, we apply creativity, strategy, design and data to re-invent businesses, drive growth and orchestrate customer centric transformation.

Together we strive to shape a regenerative future that is both sustainable and inclusive for businesses, people and planet.