Dreaming Big in the Age of AI
As artificial intelligence and automation increasingly shape our world, the need for nurturing human creativity, intellect, and intuition becomes more critical. We stand at the crossroads of possibility and pragmatism, where the tension between daring to dream and making grounded decisions are constant. How do we dream big in the age of AI?
Generative AI, with its ability to produce text, images, and video from vast datasets, is revolutionizing industries by automating creative processes that were once uniquely human. However, while AI can generate, remix and analyze, it cannot dream—it lacks the ability to envision possibilities of the future, because it’s trained on the data of the past.
Humans have a sense of self-awareness and consciousness—an understanding of their own existence and thoughts, an ability to contemplate the future. AI, on the other hand, operates based on data input, algorithms, and pattern recognition. It cannot reflect on its own state of being, ask "Why am I here?" or explore existential questions. AI can generate creative outputs based on patterns it has learned from data. However, true creativity stems from human imagination, intuition, and a sense of personal and cultural expression. Creativity is often sparked by emotions, experiences, and abstract thinking, which are what makes us human and unique. Human ingenuity remains irreplaceable. Some of our greatest innovations started with a dream.
As leaders, we have a responsibility to dream on behalf of our users, especially as seismic shifts in technology reshape their needs. We don’t dream enough. The inertia of life, the world and the noise around us stifles us and as such, dreams die, or never have a chance to be birthed. One of my leadership values is what I call being Whatiftimistic: Let’s dream big and always ask, "What if?" There is a lot of risk in not taking risk! The future is ours to design—so let’s build it with creativity and courage. To do this we need to dream, continue dreaming and dream some more!
Dual Approach
This centers on a strategy of balancing a “present forward” and “future backward” mindset to inform a strategic product roadmap.
NOW: Building on existing products to meet current user needs (Present Forward)
NEAR: Connecting the now and future strategies to create a roadmap (Present Forward)
FUTURE: Envisioning and planning for future user demands. (Future Backward)
Future Backward and Present Forward Mindset Map
A New Framework
As design leaders, it's our responsibility to anticipate the future needs of our users, especially as technology rapidly evolves. In my early career at Walmart, one of the frameworks we used in product development and pricing was “Good/Better/Best.” Later on in my career, a framework often used for product roadmapping was “Now/Next/Later.” This ensures we're not only addressing the immediate needs of our users but also proactively anticipating and preparing for their future needs. This can be done sequentially or in parallel depending on the needs of the business, context and resources.
A New Framework: Future Back and Present Forward Strategy
Let me share a recent example during my time at Google as UX Director. I've applied this strategy to many initiatives, including a generative AI-powered shopping experience we internally called “Shopping Dreamer” (note: this is not the official Google name for the product). This project exemplifies how we can harness cutting-edge technology to meet today’s needs while paving the way for tomorrow’s possibilities.
Dream…Dream…Dream…
Have you ever imagined something specific, so vivid in your mind's eye, but struggled to find it because you couldn't quite put it into words? That’s where our latest innovation comes in—Shopping Dreamer. Let’s talk about Anna. She’s looking for a colorful patterned puffy jacket. Instead of scrolling through countless irrelevant options, Anna can now use our AI to generate exactly what she’s envisioning, tweak it, and then shop for the closest visual matches using Google lens. We’ve taken the frustration out of shopping and replaced it with something fun, engaging, and deeply personal. This idea was born out of a desire to bridge that gap between imagination and reality. (Future Back Strategy) Simultaneously, building on existing shopping features, we launched Guided Similarity, another useful visual way to shop (Present Forward Strategy.)
Shopping Dreamer
For us the goal was clear: we needed to create a more visually inspiring shopping experience that delighted shoppers. Traditional search with blue links wasn't meeting users shopping needs especially for highly aesthetic categories like apparel. We wanted to keep users engaged, helping them discover what they envisioned, and in turn, increase helpfulness and user value. So, we partnered with our brilliant engineers and built a rough prototype with a clunky UI, but it worked. We proved our hypothesis—the new model outperformed current experiences. The quality of the synthetic images alongside Google lens created compelling results, enough to get senior leadership on board, and from there, we patented it.
What we didn’t know was that our foresight researching AI possibilities six to nine months before ChatGPT even launched helped position us to compete in this ever evolving new landsape. We co-created with GenZ users across Japan, India, and the US, learning that people wanted to collaborate with AI. It wasn’t just a trend—it was a fundamental shift in how people wanted to engage. And it wasn’t just GenZ; this resonated with everyone. With full support, and a lot of passion, our cross functional team built, tested, iterated, and launched. There were many moments, where the journey got hard, we faced unexpected challenges, but our team of dreamers never gave up and persisted. In January 2024, we introduced the world to Shopping Dreamer—a revolutionary way to put what’s in your mind straight into your shopping cart.
Shopping Dreamer launched in Search Generative Experiences January 2024
Shoppers, especially those in apparel, often have a very specific vision in mind. Traditional search doesn’t always capture that. But with Shopping Dreamer, you can literally shop what’s on your mind. Since its launch, millions of users have embraced this new way to shop and now scaling to billions of users. Try it out! This is just the beginning, but it’s a glimpse into the future of shopping—one where your imagination is the only limit. I'm thrilled to be part of shaping the future of collaborative AI .
I'd love to hear your thoughts: What inspires you to push boundaries and innovate? Let’s imagine together. How should we create a future that combines the best of human ingenuity and AI? What role do you see AI playing in helping us dream and design the future? Let's spark a conversation.
