UXPA Boston 2017 Conference

There’s a well-known WC Fields quote, “If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” When it comes to Machine Learning (ML), there can be a tendency to dazzle with bullshit, to make grandiose claims about the capabilities of magical algorithms. Yet attempts to convey more correctly the real brilliance of Machine Learning often leave people baffled. This can be looked at as a UX problem: there is an enormous gap in understanding between those designing ML solutions and those using them, and it is a more fundamental gap than exists naturally between designers and users of other software systems.

This talk will be both an introduction to Machine Learning and an examination of why it presents a unique challenge to UX professionals.