Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest computing technology that is transforming the ways we work and live. AI can perform myriad tasks that only skilled humans could do before. And the primary way we use AI is through conversation-like interaction. This workshop aims to demystify today’s AI technology and provide hands-on experience designing AI-powered conversational agents, guided by insights from Conversation Analysis (CA). An introduction to conversational user experience (UX) design will be given, emphasizing interaction patterns and limitations of last-generation technology (e.g., Siri, Alexa). It will be followed by an introduction to today’s conversational AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) covering what large language models (LLMs) are and how they work. The workshop will then cover the three levers available to designers for shaping LLM behavior: system prompts, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and supervised fine-tuning (SFT). Participants will then apply this knowledge to the design of custom GPTs using the ChatGPT authoring tool.

(Note: each workshop participant needs at least one month subscription to ChatGPT Plus for $20 USD.)

Facilitated by: Robert J. Moore