We are firmly in the era of the anthropomorphic AI mascot, and according to multiple researchers and designers I spoke with, the trend makes perfect sense. In moments when tech companies want to encourage mass market adoption of an unfamiliar service, they’ve historically turned to friendly, approachable design.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91620091/big-tech-is-cutewashing-its-ai-agents
@fexd Really sharp framing 👍 — the cute mascot era is doing the same normalization work friendly UI did for smartphones. Worth asking what the friendly face is smoothing over, though.