What happens when AI doesn't meet your standards?
Superhuman design philosophy made it tricky to integrate AI, but the constraints led to some creative breakthroughs.
Every interaction in Superhuman was designed to be faster than 100ms, which makes using it feel virtually instantaneous to human perception.
From the perspective of Positive Constraint, the 100ms design principle is a constraint that forms their identity and strategy. Part of their DNA.
Trying to apply the same 100ms rule to their new AI-powered voice dictation and translation, Loïc Houssier and his team had a problem. AI wasn't fast enough to meet the standard.
The constraint of designing <100ms interactions led them to develop various solutions that may cost more but still deliver an exceptional user experience.
You can find the original episode page here:
https://www.chainofthought.show/podcast/59-how-superhuman-built-ai-into-a-100ms-product-lo-c-houssier/