Designers as Secret Weapon for AI Era
A DesignObserver opinion piece argues that corporate over-focus on efficiency and shareholder returns has weakened customer experience, workforce morale, and infrastructure, creating a crisis that design can resolve. The author contends that businesses, blindsided by AI and threatened by startups like Chinese automakers challenging Ford, need designers to provide a human-centered vision for AI adoption. The article cites Forrester's 2024 CX Index showing US customer experience at an all-time low and warns that mission-critical services are on fragmented, breaking infrastructure. It calls on designers to lead boldly with concrete steps.
Key facts
- Businesses are driven to use AI for efficiency at the expense of everything else.
- Forrester's 2024 CX Index shows US customer experience at an all-time low.
- Ford faces competition from advances in Chinese vehicles.
- Three weakened areas: customer experience, culture & workforce morale, infrastructure.
- Infrastructure is fragmented from mergers and acquisitions and underfunded.
- AI is adding more chaos to siloed corporate environments.
- Designers should replace 'What will AI take away?' with 'What future can AI create?'
- The article urges designers to come to the table boldly with concrete steps.
Entities
Institutions
- DesignObserver
- Forrester
- Ford
- McKinsey
- Council on Foreign Relations
Locations
- United States
- China