AI is taking the world by storm. It seems everyone is enamoured by ChatGPT and the like. But is everyone really? Are we not leaving many behind?

As a studio creating digital products that millions of people use to shop and pay, or manage their health and homes, accessibility has always been high on our radar. Digital inclusion takes an even wider view. It looks at accessibility. But also at access to technology. At skill, confidence, language, and trust. We're proud to have played a role in establishing DigitAll: the Belgian ecosystem for digital inclusion.

Given the rise of AI, when DigitAll invited me to their end-of-year event, I was happy to share my thoughts on the following question: Is AI a good thing, or a bad thing, for digital inclusion?

The dream

Sometimes I'm told that AI 'democratises technology'.

We have this incredible information technology that's available to us all. Capable of understanding human language. Allowing us to talk to it. Put like this, AI does sound like the great equaliser. If we believe the dream, our future with AI will be Her. All of us with our very own Sam, the smart assistant, ready to help. We just gotta ask. In our own language. It can't become any simpler.

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But then some LinkedInfluencer wakes me from this dream by slapping me in the face with the latest guide on prompting. Warning me yesterday's tools are already old news. Telling me I must try these 75 new AI tools, without which I will become redundant.

So I worry.

Digital was already moving fast. Too fast for many people in society. (The digital divide is being encountered by ±40% of Belgians.) With AI, it seems we've gone full hyperspeed.

Here's what we'll need to pay attention to.

The risks

Access

I'm going to cut some corners here, and say that generally speaking, the playing field has been greatly levelled when it comes to access to technology. Software in the cloud, and improvements in smartphones and laptops, mean we don't all need the latest, greatest devices.

Enter companies like Apple, putting their grand AI vision behind a device upgrade. And if not a new device, then how about a subscription? AI is a very expensive hobby, so better pay up for Gemini Pro Plus Ultra or SuperClaude. If these assistants are as transformational as we are being told, then we're risking a world where it's pay to play and pay to win. It will be the survival of the techiest.

Trust

Many already don't trust technology, and with AI, we're sending a lot of mixed messages. For a long time, we were told computers are exact systems—calculators. There is no need to second-guess a calculator. You can believe what's on the screen.

Not so with LLMs. These are inherently guessing machines. By all means, don't believe what they say.

We have a lot of education to do here. Even people working in tech blindly trust the output of a system like ChatGPT.

So, how on Earth are we going to explain that to people who are already hesitant to use technology?

• They will trust an AI system without any questions asked, lacking an understanding of its limitations.
• Or it will be the final straw. The final intimidation. The final complication:

"You told me to trust the computer. And now you’re telling me not to trust the computer?"

Let's focus on getting people to trust an AI system for what it can and cannot do.

Guidance

We'll have to guide people into a world with AI. Ease them into it. Tell them how to use it.

I'm sorry, but the chat paradigm we see today will not be the final form. It will not be the only way to engage with systems. It's simply too overwhelming. Or lazy.

Let's time travel back to the 1970s. If I were to put a beige box in front of you, with a blinking text cursor on the screen, and tell you, "Here's a machine that can do anything you like, " would you know what to do? My guess is that most of us would not. Luckily, thoughtful people added a graphical interface to that screen. They built software. They designed solutions, specifically made to assist users with certain tasks. The underlying technology was simply the means to that end. The means didn't matter.

I cannot wait for AI to be put back under the hood. "As soon as it works, we don't call it AI anymore," a wise person once said.  I'm getting tired of talking about AI, just for AI's sake. I want to talk about designing meaningful digital solutions for people and how that will make their lives easier.

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The future is ours to build

If I sound like an AI boomer, forgive me: it's the antibodies kicking in after getting an overdose of AI Hypium. Of course, I'm not immune to it. This technology is immensely powerful. And that's precisely why we need to do better—channel that power for good and avoid uneven access to it.

If AI changes the game, then the digital goalposts will change, too, making it even farther out of reach for people across the digital divide. Luckily, there are many people who want to take up arms.

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Society-builders

To those working on policy and awareness, keep doing what you're doing. Educate people. Make them aware of their potential and their limitations, too. Make sure we see AI for what it is: another technology, not magic. We shouldn't be scared. Contrary to what some hype men would lead us to believe, we are not powerless.
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Let's have the debate: What do we want to use AI for? What do we not want to use it for? We decide.

Solution-builders

To those building digital products, or companies offering digital channels. Let's build even better things.

Let's move beyond the prompt. A chatbot is not a magical solution. It's a nice way to improve search or support, sure. But it's not an excuse to ignore information architecture. To think we got a free pass on designing thoughtful user journeys.

Adapt your design principles for the age of AI. AI solutions are different. Because they are new. Because they are powerful. Because they make mistakes.

You need to:

• Explain users what to expect. What will happen, and how that works.
• Explain the limitations, and gracefully handle errors.
• Build trust.

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Shaping an AI future for everyone

In summary, unfortunately, I worry AI will only widen the digital divide, instead closing it. If we don't guide people on the fence, even technology that sounds more natural, will still be too intimidating. And if we don't guide the technology, we will see even more unwanted use cases.

Yes, the genie is out of the bottle. But we are not powerless, we grant the wishes. AI is still technology. It's not something we cannot control.

We can design the AI society we want to see. We can design AI solutions that work for us, not against us.

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