Conversational Design

What's the most interesting thing you've been exploring or learning while working in conversational design?

I've been working in this space for a while now, and one area I've really enjoyed exploring is the idea of AI archetypes.

When I first started working on our conversational experience, Aurora, a fintech AI assistant, I naturally went straight to the words.

What should the opening message say? How should Aurora respond? What happens when it doesn't understand a question? How do we make sure it doesn't sound like an overenthusiastic salesperson?

All perfectly reasonable questions. But I soon realised I'd jumped ahead a little.

Before thinking about what the AI should say, we needed to understand what role it should play.

That led to some interesting conversations about archetypes. Should Aurora be a coach, a mentor, a friend or a guide? What does each relationship imply? Where should the boundaries sit, especially when dealing with people's finances?

We eventually landed on The Guide, which opened up a whole new set of questions about behaviour, trust, tone of voice and keeping customers in control.

One thing I've learnt is that defining what an AI isn't can be just as useful as defining what it is.

I'm still figuring plenty of this out, but it's been fascinating seeing how traditional content design thinking needs to stretch when you're designing something that can speak back.

Curious to hear what everyone else has been exploring. What's challenged your thinking, surprised you, or made you approach conversational design differently?