user-centered design
What It Means
User-centered design means building AI systems by starting with what users actually need and how they work, rather than what's technically impressive. It involves real users throughout the entire development process - from initial planning through testing and refinement - to ensure the final product genuinely solves their problems in ways that make sense to them.
Why Chief AI Officers Care
AI systems that ignore user needs typically fail in the market regardless of technical sophistication, wasting significant investment and creating competitive disadvantage. User-centered design reduces the risk of building AI that users can't or won't adopt, while improving ROI by ensuring solutions address real business problems that people will actually pay for.
Real-World Example
A bank's AI chatbot was technically advanced but customers abandoned it because it required precise financial terminology and couldn't handle natural speech patterns. After user-centered redesign involving actual customers in testing, they rebuilt it to understand casual language like 'my card isn't working' instead of requiring 'payment instrument malfunction,' resulting in 300% higher completion rates.
Common Confusion
Many teams think user-centered design just means asking users what they want at the beginning of a project, but it actually requires continuous involvement throughout development and multiple rounds of testing and refinement based on how users actually behave with the system.
Industry-Specific Applications
See how this term applies to healthcare, finance, manufacturing, government, tech, and insurance.
Healthcare: In healthcare AI, user-centered design means involving clinicians, patients, and care teams from concept through deploym...
Finance: In finance, user-centered design ensures AI systems align with how traders, advisors, and customers actually work rather...
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Includes:
- 6 industry-specific applications
- Relevant regulations by sector
- Real compliance scenarios
- Implementation guidance
Technical Definitions
NISTNational Institute of Standards and Technology
"the practice of the following principles, the active involvement of users for a clear understanding of user and task requirements, iterative design and evaluation, and a multi-disciplinary approach"Source: Vredenburg,_Karel
"Approach to system design and development that aims to make interactive systems more usable by focusing on the use of the system; applying human factors, ergonomics and usability knowledge and techniques."Source: IEEE_Soft_Vocab
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