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AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

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Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#21

Post by waboremo »

wbobeirne wrote: post #16

> With this new UI paradigm, represented by current generative AI, the user tells the computer the desired result but does not specify how this outcome should be accomplished. This doesn't seem like a whole new paradigm, we already do that. When I hit the "add comment" button below, I'm not specifically instructing the web server how I want my comment inserted into a database (if it even is a database at all.) This i…

Yeah I would agree with this, the article struggles really classifying the different paradigms, and due to this the conclusion winds up not holding true. We're still relying on "batch processing".

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#22

Post by kaycebasques »

> With the new AI systems, the user no longer tells the computer what to do. Rather, the user tells the computer what outcome they want.

Maybe we can borrow programming paradigm terms here and describe this as Imperative UX versus Declarative UX. Makes me want to dive into SQL or XSLT and try to find more parallels.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#23

Post by danielvaughn »

Interesting to bundle both cli/gui under the "command" based interaction paradigm. I've never heard it described that way but it does make sense intuitively. Is that a common perception? I think of the development of the mouse/gui as a very significant event in the history of computing interfaces.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#24

Post by Klathmon »

golemotron wrote: post #9

> Summary: AI is introducing the third user-interface paradigm in computing history, shifting to a new interaction mechanism where users tell the computer what they want, not how to do it — thus reversing the locus of control. Like every query language ever. I'm not sure the distinction between things we are searching for and things we're actively making is as different as the author thinks.

But this is basically the absence of a query syntax, a way to query via natural language, and not just get back a list of results, but have it almost synthesize an answer.

To everyone who isn't a software developer, this is a new paradigm with computers. Hell even for me as a software dev it's pretty different.

Like I'm not asking Google to find me info that I can then read and grok, I'm asking something like ChatGPT for an answer directly.

It's the difference between querying for "documentation for eslint" but instead asking "how do you configure eslint errors to warnings" or even "convert eslint errors to warnings for me in this file".

It's a very different mental approach to many problems for me.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#25

Post by zgluck »

danielvaughn wrote: post #23

Interesting to bundle both cli/gui under the "command" based interaction paradigm. I've never heard it described that way but it does make sense intuitively. Is that a common perception? I think of the development of the mouse/gui as a very significant event in the history of computing interfaces.

When you zoom out on the time scale it makes more sense. I think he's got a point. Both CLIs and GUIs are "command based". LLM prompts are more declarative. You describe what you want.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#26

Post by zeroonetwothree »

karaterobot wrote: post #18
api wrote: post #7

I'd argue that multi-touch gestural mobile phone and tablet interfaces were different enough from mouse and keyboard to be considered a new paradigm.

I'd have multi-touch be a sidebar in the textbook, but not a new section. Gestural interaction is not fundamentally different than a pointer device: it doesn't allow meaningful new behavior. It is sometimes a more intuitive way to afford the same behavior, though. I would agree that portable devices amount to a new paradigm in something —maybe UX—but not UI per se .

It allows manipulations that are impossible with single touch (like a mouse). It’s pretty big for things like 3D manipulation.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#27

Post by golemotron »

Klathmon wrote: post #24
golemotron wrote: post #9

> Summary: AI is introducing the third user-interface paradigm in computing history, shifting to a new interaction mechanism where users tell the computer what they want, not how to do it — thus reversing the locus of control. Like every query language ever. I'm not sure the distinction between things we are searching for and things we're actively making is as different as the author thinks.

But this is basically the absence of a query syntax, a way to query via natural language, and not just get back a list of results, but have it almost synthesize an answer. To everyone who isn't a software developer, this is a new paradigm with computers. Hell even for me as a software dev it's pretty different. Like I'm not asking Google to find me info that I can then read and grok, I'm asking something like ChatGPT…

For years I've just typed questions, in English, into browser search bars. It works great. Maybe that is why it doesn't seem like a new paradigm to me.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#28

Post by golemotron »

karaterobot wrote: post #20
golemotron wrote: post #9

> Summary: AI is introducing the third user-interface paradigm in computing history, shifting to a new interaction mechanism where users tell the computer what they want, not how to do it — thus reversing the locus of control. Like every query language ever. I'm not sure the distinction between things we are searching for and things we're actively making is as different as the author thinks.

In your view, then, is AI best described as an incremental improvement over (say) SQL in terms of the tasks it enables users to complete?

Incremental improvement over Google search. And, it's not about the tasks that it enables users to complete, it is about the UI paradigm as per the article.

Re: AI: First New UI Paradigm in 60 Years?

#29

Post by blowski »

wbobeirne wrote: post #16

> With this new UI paradigm, represented by current generative AI, the user tells the computer the desired result but does not specify how this outcome should be accomplished. This doesn't seem like a whole new paradigm, we already do that. When I hit the "add comment" button below, I'm not specifically instructing the web server how I want my comment inserted into a database (if it even is a database at all.) This i…

If I had a spectrum of purely imperative on one side and purely declarative on the other, these new AIs are much closer to the latter than anything that has come before them.

SQL errors if you don’t write in very specific language. These new AIs will accept anything and give it their best shot.

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