S7 | E5: Maheen Sohail - Navigating ambiguity in AI design
Dive Club đ€ż - A podcast by Ridd
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This weekâs episode is with Maheen Sohail who is a senior staff designer working on generative at Meta. She joined as one of the earliest designers on both the VR and AI teams, so a big part of this discussion is about navigating ambiguity when thereâs no clear playbook to follow.We go deep into:New types of interface patterns for AIThe unique ways she thinks about prototypingEthical considerations when designing AI produdctsHow Maheen explores AI models through side projectsWhy the goal posts for what it means to be a designer are shiftinga lot moreâ KEY TAKEAWAYSNobody knows what theyâre doingThis is especially true when youâre designing products for emerging technologies like AI. Itâs easy to look at people working on these AI-native products and assume they have it all figured out⊠but weâre all still learning and exploring whatâs possible. This came up in George Kedenburgâs episode too.Curiosity > everythingI asked Maheen what traits are more important than curiosity for people interested in designing AI products. Her answer? Nothing.The importance of passion projectsThereâs a trend Iâm noticing in these interviews⊠the designers who are creating cutting edge use cases for AI are the ones actively exploring the technology with side projects. Reading essays isnât the way to learn. You have to want something to exist in the world and use that as a reason to figure out whatâs possible. For Maheen it was using AI models to colorize images of Pakistan. For Nate Parrott it was using AI to hallucinate in HTML.Maheen references Alex Cornellâs storytelling abilitiesMaheenâs demo for animating drawings (itâs very fun)We referenced Colin Dunnâs episode about the importance of naming in AI productsMaheenâs colorized photos of PakistanMaheenâs FakeID podcastMetaâs AI releaseMaheen raved about the Rosebud journalling app