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
At the end of the 20th century, as digital music was first becoming a thing, Winamp was must-have software for many people. The audio player, which famously featured a llama mascot and sounds of a bleating llama when you started it up, has never completely gone away, but it has long since been overshadowed by embedded media players from Microsoft, Apple, and other companies. The beloved MP3-era music player is teaming up with Deezer to launch a subscription streaming service next year.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91610440/winamp-is-back-and-wants-a-piece-of-spotifys-business
It’s graduation week, which means the emissaries of the nation’s elite are now descending onto college campuses to deliver the much-discussed and, they hope, indelibly quotable college commencement address. The problem this year, however, is that the news of the day is artificial intelligence, and students just don’t want to hear it. AI has become a hobgoblin of bad graduation addresses, landing somewhere between cringe, out of touch, and offensive.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91544892/the-students-booing-ai-arent-luddites