The ADMINS project has developed a chatbot to see if the technology can improve the way students disclose information about disability or health conditions. We named our chatbot Taylor.
The project was sponsired by Microsoft and built using their Azure technologies. You can read what they had to say here: https://blogs.microsoft.com/accessibility/ai4aedugrants2021/
As design consultant on the project I was involved in planning the visual interface for Taylor and also providing visuals for disseminating information about our progress amongst other user-experience related tasks.
There were many unique design challenges working with .AI technologies. Working in an agile methodology helped, but much of this project was led by discovery into the technology and its potential, so the scope for a thorough UX and design approach was deferred and software engineering became the priority.
Design did influence the outcome in small but significant ways, from methods of onboarding and offboarding to landmarking the journey to aid short-term memory recall at a later stage.
It is my hope that any future work on this project will offer more possibilities for design to discover ways to improve the chatobt further. For example, customisable persona development, a more granular approach to the conversation design. Explore alternative methods for user-settings and how they are called into action.
In summary, the design process – this abstract concept designers often refer to – triumphs in a sense that I have learnt what needs to be done next. With new technologies such as .AI that has to be a positive outcome.