User Experience Principles for Retrieval-Augmented Generation.

Let's back up a smidge.

What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation?

In simplest terms—it's generative AI and retrieval AI. RAG models retrieve information from relevant sources and generates a contextually meaningful response. It combines the ability to search for information (retrieval) and create new content (generation). It enhances the system's understanding and interaction in various applications, widely used in conversational interfaces and the ever-popular dashboard.

Why RAG User Experience Principles? The core of what RAG amplifies is the removal of knowledge friction—informing a human from multiple sources with synthesized information that allows them to apply critical thinking.?

Before we cover RAG User Experience Principles, let's talk about instant cake mix.

Yup, that's right, I'm talking about making a homemade cake by adding water and a few fresh ingredients. During the Depression, John D. Duff dehydrated his surplus of molasses and combined it with flour, sugar, and dried eggs to invent a just-add-water gingerbread mix. The product's first iteration was a wild success with no changes—the end.

Has any product gone that way?

Nope.

However, Duff was onto something and had a compelling MVP.?

In a later patent application, Duff explained that the public seemed to prefer fresh eggs. "Hence, the use of dried or powdered eggs is somewhat of a handicap from a psychological standpoint." The psychological part is where a UX team leans in today as they translate human behaviors. I'd guess that the dried eggs MVP had a wider use, better profit margins, and a clear winner in company boardrooms - except user adoption was low.

Sound familiar???

The box cake mix solved something for users; anyone could make a homemade cake by adding water. The psychology pointed to that it felt too easy. A sense of accomplishment and pride was missing for the user.

Tieing this back to RAG and User Experience.

From the business point of view, ingredients were combined so that anyone with water and a pan could bake a cake. Thankfully, this wasn't the end of recipes and cookbooks as we know them. However, it enabled cake-making to be ubiquitous as the retrieval and generation of ingredients was automated. From the user's point of view, they wanted to feel the baking experience, regardless of their skill, time, or budget. Just adding water to dry ingredients didn't give the (psychological) baking experience they wanted.

Instant cake mix was a new technology, just as RAG is today.

As AI/ML increases, interfaces and experiences will be generated and automated via components and algorithms, and understanding human needs will be a critical business differentiator.?

Four foundational RAG User Experience Principles

1. Prioritize User Trust. Trust is paramount. Giving users control and understanding builds trust. Design transparent interaction patterns that convey how the system retrieves and generates the information. Design user controls in the process, allowing them to verify or modify results and empowering the system's decision-making logic to align with user expectations.
2. Retrieve User-Centric Information. The heart of RAG lies in retrieving relevant information. Helping users identify relevant information will support tasks. Design interfaces that show the retrieval process, allowing users to understand and trust the sources of information.?
3. Enhance Contextual Awareness. RAG models thrive on context, as do humans. Give personalized, informed, and actionable information. Design visual and verbal cues that provide a clear thread, enabling the flow of information to be followed and empowering the user to make informed decisions.?
4. Balance Complexity and Simplicity. RAG models bring sophistication to information processing. The design challenge is to balance complexity with simplicity. Design accessible, advanced, and intuitive capabilities for a broad audience. Strive for an experience that feels powerful yet approachable.

Just adding water to these will be a start, and unlocking the potential of RAG will require user research, experience design, and iteration.??

Easy isn't always better