How can humans and intelligent computers work together?
Towards a harmonious partnership.
First, let me clarify that I understand the privileges that men have had and continue to have in the technology industry. The word “Man” was commonly used to refer to all humans, regardless of gender, in the English language during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. However, it is important to acknowledge that language evolves over time, and what may have been deemed acceptable in the past may not be appropriate today. In contemporary times, it is more appropriate to use gender-neutral terms such as “human” instead of “man” in order to avoid excluding and diminishing women’s contributions to society and to ensure inclusivity.
In 1960, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, also known as Lick, published a groundbreaking paper titled “Man-Computer Symbiosis” in which he predicted that humans and computers would form a symbiotic relationship. During that time, computers were still in their early stages and most people had never seen one. Licklider’s ideas were revolutionary and paved the way for the development of modern computing and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This essay is often cited as a seminal article in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Licklider’s vision has had a significant impact on how we think about the relationship between humans and technology today, including how we approach design and computing.
I first came across this essay in 2014 during my research in human-computer interaction (HCI) at the university’s computing lab. When I read Licklider’s work, I noticed that many of the things we do in the field of computing and HCI today are part of what he wrote about 50 years ago. If you’re interested in reading the full essay, you can find it at this link.
Licklider was a visionary computer scientist who possessed a profound understanding of the potential of computers. He was one of the pioneers in establishing a culture of interdisciplinary research in computer science and information technology. He firmly believed that computers could be utilized to enhance human intelligence, solve intricate problems, and create a more efficient and productive society.
His vision as a scientist has influenced some prominent figures in computing and HCI. To name a few, we have individuals such as:
- Alan Curtis Kay — A computer scientist and visionary, Alan Kay worked at Xerox PARC, where Licklider’s ideas inspired him. Kay contributed to the development of the Xerox Alto and is known for his pioneering work in object-oriented programming and the Smalltalk programming language.
- Barbara J. Grosz — Computer scientist and Harvard professor who has she worked as a researcher at Xerox PARC, the technology research center that Licklider helped found. She was also the first woman to serve as president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) In her work, Grosz has explored ideas related to human-computer interaction and intelligent systems;
- Douglas Engelbart — Inventor of the computer mouse and a pioneer of human-computer interaction. Licklider’s vision of the Human-Computer Symbiosis heavily influenced Engelbart’s work. Licklider provided crucial financial support to Engelbert and his Stanford Research Institute(SRI) resource group. He reigned on Engelbert’s superiors to give freehand to Engelbert. I highly recommend watching “The Mother of All Demos”.
- Ivan Sutherland — Known for his groundbreaking work in computer graphics, Sutherland collaborated with Licklider at MIT and ARPA. He developed Sketchpad, an early graphical computing program, and is often called the “father of computer graphics”.
- Mark Dean— A computer scientist and a prominent figure in the field of Human Computer Interaction. Dean made significant contributions to the development of personal computing technology, A field that was shaped by many of the ideas that Licklider advocated.
- Robert Taylor Aka Bob Taylor — A computer scientist who worked with Licklider at ARPA and later at Xerox PARC, Taylor played a crucial role in developing the ARPANET and was instrumental in creating the graphical user interface (GUI) and the Xerox Alto computer.
His ideas inspired the creation of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which made computers much more user-friendly for non-technical users. The user-centered design approach, which is fundamental to modern application, software, and computational system design, was influenced by Licklider’s idea that computers should be designed to be as easy to use as possible for humans. In his vision, human-computer interaction should be as natural and efficient as possible, with computers acting as intelligent assistants to humans.
Years later, in 1968, Licklider and his counterpart Bob Taylor wrote the very interesting article “The Computer as a Communication Device”, which established the foundations for a user-centered computing vision, in which communication and collaboration are fundamental. This helped to inspire the development of more intuitive and user-friendly user interfaces over the following decades. I mention this article here because it is significant and anticipates many of the developments of the networked computing and Internet era, including the emergence of the World Wide Web and social networks.
In Licklider’s article, it is evident how he advocates for the importance of a symbiotic collaboration between humans and computers and how it can lead to a level of intelligence that surpasses what can be achieved by an isolated individual. He predicted how this collaboration could revolutionize the way we live and work in society. Nowadays, his vision has inspired the development of artificial intelligence, which is used in a wide range of applications, including virtual assistants, e-commerce, and self-driving cars. It is remarkable how Licklider’s vision has had a significant impact on current technology and everyday life, driving the creation of new technological solutions that make our lives easier and more efficient.
Why a symbiosis?
The word “symbiosis” was used by Licklider in his essay because he was referring to a relationship of mutual cooperation between humans and computers, where each partner can benefit from the power of the other. Licklider explains that, this relationship is like how the tree and the insect are so strongly interdependent: the tree cannot reproduce without the insect and the insect cannot feed without the tree. Together, they constitute not only a viable partnership, but also a productive and thriving one, thus creating a symbiosis.
By definition, the word symbiosis is a term commonly used in biology to describe the relationship between two different organisms that live together in close association, and both partners benefit from the relationship. Thus, symbiosis is an appropriate analogy to describe the ideal relationship between humans and computers, where each has different skills and strengths that can be combined to create a more efficient and powerful system.
The central idea of “Human-Computer Symbiosis” was that computers and humans would work together, each performing tasks that they were best suited for. Computers would be responsible for performing complex computations and storing vast amounts of information, while humans would be responsible for making judgments and decisions based on the information provided by the computer. The computer would act as a “serving agent,” providing the human with the information they needed to make informed decisions.
Licklider recognized that the human mind had limitations, such as limited memory capacity and the inability to perform complex calculations quickly. Computers, on the other hand, had almost unlimited memory capacity and could perform calculations at incredible speeds. By working together, humans and computers could overcome each other’s limitations and achieve a level of productivity that was not possible before.
In the essay, Licklider argues that:
“Many problems that can be thought of in advance are very difficult to think of in advance. They would be easier to solve, and could be solved more quickly, through an intuitively guided trial-and-error procedure, in which the computer would cooperate, discovering flaws in reasoning or revealing unexpected turns in the solution. Other problems simply cannot be formulated without the help of the computer. Poincaré anticipated the frustration of an important group of potential computer users when he said, ‘The question is not ‘What is the answer?’ The question is ‘What is the question?’’ One of the main objectives of human-computer symbiosis is to bring the computer effectively into the formulative parts of technical problems.”
Many people may not notice how human-computer symbiosis happens today, but did you know that in the field of engineering, computer simulation is often used to model and test new product designs, allowing engineers to quickly and accurately identify and correct flaws.
Licklider believed that humans and computers could work together to deal with the growing scale and complexity of information processing tasks. Nowadays, in the financial industry, computers are widely used to process large amounts of data in real-time, identify trading patterns, and make accurate predictions. As someone who has worked and consulted in banks, I can attest that many financial analysts rely on computational analysis to buy and sell stocks or make risky financial moves.
I am presenting these examples to illustrate that the symbiotic collaboration between humans and computers is already happening to some extent nowadays, although it may not be as noticeable as many expect in a futuristic cybernetic vision.
How User Experience Design Can Enhance Human-Computer Symbiosis?
Understanding people is the most important part of our work as designers. In order to build computational systems that adapt to human needs, we also need to understand how these intelligent systems work and execute tasks. As our interaction with intelligent systems increases every day, the principles of human-computer symbiosis are also central to the field of UX design. Looking at the current context, the human-computer symbiosis becomes increasingly important as interactions between humans and machines become more frequent and complex.
After reading books on HCI and Interaction Design, I believe more and more that our field of expertise is far from what is considered traditional design and closer to computing. This is because this discipline emerged from the intersection between computing, cognitive sciences, and usability engineering. In other words, our field is fundamentally interdisciplinary and requires knowledge in several areas so that we can design efficient and effective interactions between humans and technologies.
I believe that UX Design, as a discipline, has a lot to offer in building a symbiotic relationship between humans and intelligent machines, without neglecting ethical concerns. I also believe that we can take advantage of the full range of tools and methodologies that the discipline incorporates to continuously improve this symbiotic relationship. This means that UX designers can apply techniques such as usability testing, metric analysis, and user research to understand how to improve digital experiences and enhance the interaction between humans and machines.
UX designers can apply their knowledge of human behavior and cognitive psychology to design interfaces that are easy to use and easy to comprehend. They aim to establish a symbiotic relationship between humans and computers, enabling users to interact with technology in a natural way. By understanding the requirements and limitations of both humans and computers, UX designers can develop digital products that are functional, user-centered, and aesthetically pleasing, without relying solely on subjective notions of beauty, which are difficult to quantify.
Artificial intelligence has also been increasingly used in the field of UX (User Experience) to personalize user experiences and provide customized suggestions based on user behavior. Nowadays, many intelligent systems work in a symbiotic relationship with humans. For example, every time we rate a movie on Netflix, we are helping artificial intelligence understand our behavior and in the future recommend movies based on our preferences. Similarly, in the e-commerce sites we use, AI can make inferences and anticipate some tasks based on our shopping lists and recommend products. This is also a symbiotic and collaborative relationship.
We can use the processing power of intelligent systems to improve the user experience of the products we build. A great example is Gmail’s “Smart Compose” feature, which uses autocomplete technology to help users write emails quickly, and was introduced in 2018. This feature in Gmail has been instrumental in saving users from typing over 1 billion characters each week. The tool has not only improved users’ productivity but also increased their confidence while writing emails.
Grammarly is another example of how the symbiosis between humans and computers is being utilized in the writing field. Through its AI technology, the tool is capable of suggesting real-time grammatical and spelling corrections, and the user’s experience when using it can contribute to the evolution of their ability to improve their vocabulary, as the tool offers suggestions for synonyms and more suitable word choices.
There are several positive examples that I could mention here related to human-computer symbiosis. If we designers take advantage of the exponential growth of intelligent machines, we will not fall into the fallacy that we will be replaced. On the contrary, we will be more empowered and capable of executing our work with mastery.
Imagine, for example, that you are reading a book that mentions events from the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now, imagine if you were using a device like Google Glass or Vuzix Blade, able to contextualize what you are seeing, able to provide additional information, present a video or audio to further enhance the user experience. I believe that this new approach, this symbiotic relationship between a human and a machine will help people in self-realization and allow people to evolve as humans. This is in line with the “Be Goal” approach championed by Marc Hassenzahl which emphasizes the importance of designing products that go beyond basic functionality and help people achieve their goals in a broader way. In turn, this same approach connects with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Furthermore, the symbiotic human-computer relationship can help enhance people’s self-realization by providing users with a sense of control and freedom in their interaction with technology. Technology can provide real-time feedback, helping people monitor their performance and progress towards their goals.
The Concept Of Augmented intelligence
The concept of Augmented Intelligence has been developed and evolved over time by various researchers and practitioners. Licklider is often credited with proposing the concept of Augmented Intelligence in the paper I mentioned earlier. However, the same concept appeared earlier in 1956, at that time called ‘‘Intelligence Amplification’’, derived from William Ross Ashby’s book ‘Introduction to Cybernetics’. The term or concept of Augmented Intelligence itself is less threatening than the admittedly ominous-sounding ‘artificial intelligence’, which implies a replacement of human intelligence.
Defining the term “Augmented Intelligence” can be quite challenging since there are many definitions. Different researchers and practitioners tend to define it in their own unique way.
Colin Harrison, a former Vice President at IBM Research, argued that, by definition, Augmented Intelligence is the delegation of cognitive tasks normally performed by an individual human being, the delegator, to an external system of intelligence, the delegate, that is capable of taking instruction from the delegator, of performing the specified task, and of returning the result to the delegator.
Douglas Engelbart envisioned a future in which computers would be able to augment human intelligence, leaving humans to focus on higher-level thinking and decision-making. He called this concept “Augmenting Human Intellect” and presented his ideas in a seminal 1962 paper called “Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework”.
Gartner defines this concept another way, explaining that Augmented intelligence is a design pattern for a human-centered partnership model of people and artificial intelligence (AI) working together to enhance cognitive performance, including learning, decision making and new experiences.
Artificial Intelligence will be an exoskeleton for the brain and human knowledge— Filipe Nzongo.
This means that AI will function as a “tool”, providing cognitive enhancement and allowing individuals to access and process information more efficiently and effectively.
Augmented intelligence is also a subsection of AI machine learning developed to enhance human intelligence rather than operate independently of or outright replace it. It’s designed to do so by improving human decision-making and, by extension, actions taken in response to improved decisions
"Technology and organizations are two instruments that have been developed to augment the human intellect in order to make people smarter" — Norman.
The focus is not to view AI as a replacement for human intelligence, but to empower human intellect. By incorporating augmented intelligence into the design process, designers can create systems that leverage the strengths of both humans and AI to achieve better outcomes. This human-centered partnership model aligns with the principles of user-centered design, where the needs and goals of the user are at the forefront of the design process.
In 2018, I had the opportunity to participate in the largest interaction design event in Latin America, the Interaction Latin America (ILA) 18, organized by IxDA Rio de Janeiro. Among the lectures I attended, one in particular stood out to me. It was Mahin Samadani’s presentation, whose main theme was “When Design meets AI”. During his talk, he discussed Augmented Intelligence, a very interesting and current topic. Excited about the subject, I asked him a question that was recorded on video and can be watched below.
However, we often fail to sufficiently address ethical issues and think that artificial intelligence could make us lazy, particularly if the implementation of the technology isn’t well thought out. Several researchers have tackled this issue, but I am concerned about the direction we could take with excessive use of AI as a society. Of course, the revolution is necessary and we cannot go back, but it is important to understand how this technology can empower us so that we can maximize our skills and abilities, rather than becoming lazy and dependent.
In addition to presenting the importance of augmented intelligence, as I have shown above, I have demonstrated how this concept has the potential to leverage our intellectual capacity. However, it is worth mentioning that the implementation of augmented intelligence requires design consciousness, which means that people (Designers, Software Engineers, Scientist, Researcher, Product Managers, Entrepreneur, etc.) who develop artificial intelligence technologies must be careful and aware of the ethical implications of their creation and possible impacts they may have on people and society in general.
The idea of a design consciousness is also in concordance with Victor Papanek’s ideas. He was a pioneer designer who emphasized the importance of incorporating ethics and social responsibility into the design process. This design consciousness should not only remain among us designers, but also spread within the organizations we work in. As designers we have a responsibility to not only create impactful products and services, but our objetive when we create these products is also to improve our human skills. Many products that we use on a daily basis are not committed to actually helping us, different apps on your smartphone are all competing for your attention, trying to distract you as much as possible and basically, trying to make us as inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing your goals as possible. In my point of view, to be honest these devices and the software that we use daily really haven’t been designed with the goals of people in mind.
As a designer, I believe that the concept of Augmented Intelligence can be a valuable solution to prevent the replacement of human beings by intelligent machines, designers can have a crucial role in the process of implementing Augmented Intelligence, as they are responsible for designing technology solutions that meet the needs of users and can be easily integrated into their workflow.
Many Researchers in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, cognitive science, and human-computer interaction, have explored a wide range of techniques and technologies for augmenting human intelligence, including:
Cognitive prosthetics
Devices or systems that provide support or assistance for specific cognitive tasks or functions. Examples include memory aids for people with cognitive impairments, decision-support systems for professionals, and language translation tools.
- Memo Touch: a memory aid device for people with cognitive impairments.
- Mycin: was a a decision-support system for medical professionals that used AI to aid in diagnosing and treating bacterial infections, making it an early example of a cognitive prosthetic.
- Eye-tracking systems: are technologies that use cameras and software to track and record the movements of a person’s eyes in order to analyze visual attention and cognitive processes, and are therefore a type of cognitive prosthetic.
Brain-computer interfaces
Systems that allow direct communication between the brain and computers or other devices. These interfaces can enable people with motor disabilities to control computers and other technologies using their thoughts, and can also be used for research in cognitive neuroscience.
- NeuroNode: a wireless sensor system that allows people with motor disabilities to control computers using their thoughts.
- OpenBCI: an open-source platform for brain-computer interface research and development.
- Emotiv: a consumer-grade EEG headset for brain-computer interface applications.
Intelligent agents
Software programs that use natural language processing and other AI techniques to provide personalized assistance and support for users. These agents can be used for a wide range of tasks, from customer service to mental health counseling.
- Siri: a virtual assistant developed by Apple Inc. It uses voice recognition and natural language processing to interpret and respond to users’ spoken commands and queries.
- Alexa: an intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon
- Woebot: an AI chatbot that provides cognitive behavioral therapy for mental health support.
- ChatGPT — a large language model trained by OpenAI, designed to generate human-like responses to text-based conversations.
- Cortana: a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft. It uses voice recognition and natural language processing to interpret and respond to users’ spoken commands and queries.
- IBM Watson: an artificial intelligence (AI) computer system that uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to understand and analyze complex data.
According to Jim Spohrer and M. Abul Kalam Siddike (2018, p.43), the development of cognitive tools is essential to reach a level of usefulness that can serve as the basis for a new generation of cognitive collaborators and coaches. By creating such tools, we can leverage the power of machine intelligence to enhance our own cognitive abilities and work more effectively with others. This approach is closely related to the concept of Augmented Intelligence.
Conclusion
To wrap up, I would like to emphasize that, as designers, we need to rethink our role as professionals in the face of these drastic changes that are happening in the technology field. With the exponential growth of intelligent machines, it will be necessary to change the performance of design as a discipline, I believe that design can play an important role in building a harmonious, symbiotic human-computer relationship, thus combining the strengths of human intelligence and intelligent machines, we can create new opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
During the article we talked about augmented intelligence, in order for us to elevate human cognition, we need to re-design the digital products or devices that we use daily and make them naturally part of our life. Human-centered technology approach will need to be part of our conception process as designers. We should not build technologies that aim to place us as humanity in museums, but that enable us, help and improve us as human beings. In a not-too-distant vision, the partnership between humans and intelligent machines will be a ubiquitous reality.
Finally, we cannot fail to consider ethical issues when it comes to technology, because for this human-machine partnership to be effective, it will be necessary to question the status quo and carefully assess the ethical implications involved in the development and use of intelligent technologies. As designers, it is important that we are aware of the social consequences, and that we strive to create solutions that benefit all users, do not violate their individual rights and freedoms, and do not accentuate existing inequalities.
