This is part 11 of “101 Ways AI Can Go Wrong” - a series exploring the interaction of AI and human endeavor through the lens of the Crossfactors framework.
View all posts in this series or explore the Crossfactors Framework
Every technology must undergo this process, even if it is niche - an this process is very hard to control.
I am speaking of technology adoption, #11 in my series on 101 Ways to Mess Things Up with AI.
What is it
Technology adoption is the process by which users, organizations and society at large begin to use and integrate new technologies into their personal and professional lives.
Why It Matters
The production and availability of a technology is not enough to guarantee adoption. Adoption can require a variety of behavioural, economic, cultural and system-level changes. We can all think of technologies that have shaped our world and we don’t often consciously realize how all these factors have aligned to enable their adoption - for better or for worse.
Real-World Examples
The adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in healthcare has been tenuous with some doctors preferring to retire rather than changing their workflows. EHRs promise many things compared to paper records, including streamlining patient management and records, improving accuracy and enhancing care coordination. However, adoption has been slowed by many factors including complex interfaces, time constraints, and plain tech refusal.
Another example is the Humane AI pin. It was an internet connected wearable device that enabled interactions primarily via voice by its user. It failed to deliver in both functionality and as the next paradigm in human-machine interface.
Key Dimensions
Usability - Is the technology intuitive and easy to use? People generally have very limited patience to learn new technologies and workflows. Even for smartphone based technologies, users expect every new app to work like current ones.
Change management - Within organisations, change management are deliberate attempts at enabling the adoption of new technology by reducing friction and addressing issues that arise from transitions. In these instances, the change is usually being pushed from the top down, as it was with EHRs.
Network Effects - Many technologies require a sizable user base, if only to justify continued support and development. Others are two-sided marketplaces or platform plays. Virality in terms of marketing can also play a role, as we saw in the early days of ChatGPT.
Take-away
Adoption seems like a stupidly simple thing to take into account. Yet, people get it wrong all the time. It presents challenges across multiple dimensions, often unpredictably.