Perficient is a recognized leader in artificial intelligence solutions, especially as it relates to generative AI, empowering enterprises to accelerate AI adoption, and transform operations. With deep expertise across Google, Adobe, Salesforce, Microsoft, and AWS technologies, we design and deploy scalable, high-impact solutions that drive efficiency, innovation, and measurable business outcomes across industries.
Our experts regularly engage in thought leadership, such as blogs discussing the benefits of AI and strategic positions, in addition to their transformational work for clients. Recently, Perficient’s work with a leading automotive manufacturer’s GenAI virtual assistant was included in Forrester’s Report titled “Design GenAI-Powered Experiences Responsibly,” which discusses how to ensure generative AI solutions are functional, efficient, and, most importantly, safe and responsible.
Why Design Responsibly? Potential for Positive and Negative Outcomes
AI’s potential to save time and boost efficiency has led many companies to quickly implement its use in the workplace with administrative functions like HR, legal, and procurement being early adopters. While these benefits are attractive, many worry about the downsides of these implementations. The flipside could potentially make experiences worse and harm both users and organizations alike.
If GenAI is deployed correctly, it can provide easier daily tasks and boost employee productivity, especially among individuals with disabilities. Chatbots can greatly reduce the challenges faced by people by being able to gather information from multiple sources quickly and produce a coherent summary.
While there are many positives with AI deployment, it could also lead to grave consequences. According to Forrester, “The AI Incident Database, which tracks AI harms, listed over 3,600 reports of incidents spanning categories from misinformation to autonomous vehicle fatalities as of September 2024.” Chatbots and other AI have been known to provide advice that is detrimental and biased, reducing their effectiveness and disadvantaging those they were designed to support, thus furthering public distrust of AI.
Responsible Design Starts Within the Institution
How do you design responsibly to avoid the pitfalls? Through proper internal governance and culture creation, organizations can build a structure that supports responsible design decisions. With these parameters in place, individuals working on design will feel empowered to uphold these principles in their GenAI designs.
“When designing with AI, teams should ask essential questions: Did we leave anyone out of this experience? Did we conduct user research with the target audience and validate our UX designs with them? Do we provide the proper training to design responsibly? Answering these questions will point teams in the right direction for every project.” — Lisa McMichael, Senior Manager Digital Accessibility, Perficient
At the Forrester CX Summit North America in 2024, the author of this report, Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar, presented Perficient’s work with this automaker during her session. The presentation outlined that when approaching the project with a leading automotive manufacturer, our team defined several tiers for generating responses versus delivering curated responses. The goal was to ensure the AI virtual assistant provided the best information to customers based on the nature of their inquiries.
For example:
- For safety-related questions, we deliver curated responses to ensure precise verbiage.
- For product questions, we allow the AI to generate responses using information from the website.
- We use pre-trained knowledge to deliver information on general queries like “What is an SUV?”
In doing so, the team was able to improve the accuracy of the answers offered to users and lessen the risk that higher-sensitivity topics like safety would be handled irresponsibly. Further, the team set principals such as offering suggestions for the user to get started when landing on the site. A full case study outlining this project can be found here.
Ready to develop artificial intelligence solutions responsibly? Explore Perficient’s GenAI expertise.
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