Overview

Uxer Experience of AI (new course under development, piloted in 25FA under the title “Delightful AI”) introduces students to the many ways AI systems can make users feel (e.g., fun, playful, fulfilling, intimate) and what specific tech design choices can create these effects. Open to everyone, it is suited for any student who wants to design interactive applications for themselves or people like them. Students who want to become professional tech product designers can also benefit from the course’s deep dive into the cognitive science and psychology of user experience (UX).

Prerequisite: None. No programming experience required, but the course project involves prompt engineering and vibe coding.

HAI Design (INFO 4460/5460) is designed for students who want to create machine learning products professionally, including data scientists, machine learning engineers, and UX designers on AI/NLP/CV product teams. Students will dive into concepts that characterize human‑centered AI (e.g., human–AI teamwork, explainability, trust, fairness), learn to work in interdisciplinary teams, and practice creating AI systems that are useful, trusted, respectful of users’ agency, and resilient to bias and manipulation.

Prerequisite: Prior coursework (or equivalent industry experience) in either technical AI or HCI/design. Python is required for students in the technical AI session. Programming skills (e.g., arduino, web app dev) are a plus for students in either session. Some seats are reserved for students in the AI minor.

4240: Designing Technology for Social Impact covers many concepts and methods that are also useful for designing AI systems. I encourage taking it before or after taking the HAI Design course.

HAI Design Resreach (INFO 4940/5940/6940) is a seminar on design as an intellectual tradition and a way of producing knowledge, using human-AI interaction as the primary application domain. Students engage with scholarship on design challenges that predate AI (collaboration, trust, fairness, creativity), analyze how AI inherits and complicates those challenges, and examine what design research uniquely contributes that social science, engineering, and ethics cannot: knowledge about what should exist. This is a reading- and debate-based course, not a design studio; students seeking to design AI applications hands-on should consider HAI Design.

Prerequisite: Prior experience in HCI, design, or AI (whether through research, coursework, or industry practice) is strongly recommended. Some seats are reserved for Ph.D. students in InfoSci.