Within the last few years, artificial intelligence has become the single greatest focus of technological development. The rise of generative AI has led to tools that can churn out well-written content and create picture-perfect images based on a single line of text. There seems to be little that AI can't or won't soon achieve within a few years.
But how has this technology grown in such a short span of time? Who are the scientists and designers responsible for these emerging technologies? One of them is Nina (Zhuxiaona) Wei, an AI designer whose expertise in Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience (UX), Product Design, and Human-centered AI has made her a significant asset to startups looking to make great use of AI to benefit their users, customers, and businesses.
After receiving her BS in Applied Psychology from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in 2013, Wei immediately pursued her Master's degree in HCI and Design from the University of Washington, one of the top HCI programs in the United States. She quickly dove into the world of startups and design agencies as a product designer. Wei was responsible for designing these companies' web and mobile applications, which helped refine her skills and led to her first AI designer job at the Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) at Baidu Research. It was here that she developed TalkType, the world's first voice-centric keyboard.
As the only HCI/UX/Product Designer at the company's 50-person AI lab, Wei was responsible for leading the team, designing and building products like TalkType that utilized the AI technology they developed. TalkType was an immediate success, attracting over 100,000 organic users in just a few short months. The technology was not only useful but received rave reviews from users impressed by its ability to improve the lives of the elderly and physically impaired. The United States granted Wei four patents because of her innovative design.
But Wei didn't stop there-her next innovation was SwiftScribe, the first auto-transcription software that aimed to help journalists and researchers dictate transcripts hand-free. Moreover, She even proposed and conducted a research study on speech- and voice-based smart devices to explore emerging AI-first products like Amazon Echo and Google Home. She eventually published the first set of usability heuristics for designing voice-enabled smart devices, which served as an inspiration to later HCI researchers and designers.
After spending two years at Baidu, Wei joined Andrew Ng's DeepLearning.AI/AI Fund to continue her work innovating AI products. She spent half a year leading a team of experts to incubate an AI coach designed to help people lose weight, which was later spun off as Zest, an AI Fund portfolio company. From there, she joined Qokka, a then newly-funded AI startup aimed at empowering the blockchain ecosystem through AI technologies. Under Wei's leadership, the company launched CryptoQokka, a real-time sentiment analysis engine powered by large-scale AI technology. This product quickly became an instrumental tool in understanding trends and patterns in making informed blockchain investment decisions.
With her passion for startups in full force, Wei has spent the last few years turning startups into successes. She joined the YC-backed startup Flowdash in 2021 as their Founding Product Designer, and it took her less than a year to design many of the top critical features used and loved by customers. With Wei's tremendous contributions, the company was named one of the top no-code software and soon became acquired by Notion. She then joined Rinse Dental as a founding designer, leading a team to successfully launch crucial products like their mobile app for dental care and web booking. Thanks to Wei, the company is at the forefront of using cutting-edge technologies like AI to change the dental care industry.
As we come to rely on AI to improve every aspect of our lives and society, AI designers like Nina Wei are instrumental in making life easier for us all. As long as designers like Wei continue to wield their expertise to create innovative new products powered by state-of-the-art AI technologies, we're certain to see AI continue its upward trajectory.
