CYPHER,
Provides an Interface to visualize your choices and make an informed decision.
This decision is later facilitated by AI Companions.
UI of CYPHER explaining options available to the user, The AI companion facilitates this decision.
AI System Design, AR glasses, UI/ UX, Business Model
Sector
Enabling users to take control of their life's story by providing a medium without overpowering the content
Challenge
Researcher, UI/ UX, Identity, Business plan, User testing
Role
Time
An Individual Research focussed project spanning 6 months
Mentored by Dinesh Abiram
Mentored
Each of us is like a character on screen, We have roles dictated by family, society, culture, etc.
Each role has “Acceptable Behaviours” and specific loops/ routines
Each Role comes with expectations in the form of loops, each loop has a -
YOU = Loops + Roles --> Stuck
⋆
YOU = Loops + Roles --> Stuck ⋆
Over time, your roles create a “persona” or an Image that can limit your potential to experience new things
We need a medium that will make us aware of the choices we make consciously and unconsciously to enable us to make better decisions that lead to better stories.
UI often overlooked in design, can surface Information hidden behind a system and streamline it to YOU the user.
So how does UI as a Medium enable Storytelling?
Current Checkpoint
Next Checkpoint
Current Progress
Turns/ Time Available
Tools Available
Constraint
Let’s look at a Case Study of Video Game UI
UI makes you aware of choices in a game.
CYPHER is a Game about Gaming,
It helps us understand WHY we do, WHAT we do.
So Why play Life without a UI
UI
=
Storytelling
+
Medium
StoryBoard of AR glass Experience
Installation Week
〰️
Installation Week 〰️
For one week CYPHER learns of your learning patterns and motivations, etc. Mentally Installing in the user’s head.
Cypher Analysis User from Background
CYPHER doesn’t Provide any inputs other than notifications for one week.
Onboarding
〰️
Onboarding 〰️
Assigned one hobby Via generated clone as part of onboarding to the User
At the end of one week, it generates a Clone from the data it gathered about you.
The clone is personalized to mentor you in just one specific hobby and is procedurally generated
The game gradually expands after onboarding to allow the user to pick their own hobbies.
Initial Interactions
〰️
Initial Interactions 〰️
CYPHER visualizes your choices through notifications, the AI is merely there to facilitate the choices you make.
Experience progress relies on the mentor's role, emphasizing curiosity & active participation than focusing on achieving success for the student.
Players are empowered to make conscious choices.
It informs you what you should do but provides room to make the final choice and adapts.
Creating Value
〰️
Creating Value 〰️
Users and AI must understand each other’s goals and motivation to trust each other. The clone will also have its own backstory.
AI and User: A Symbiotic Relationship
The AI aims to mirror the user's persona within their hobby, while the user aims to match the proficiency represented by the AI, fostering a mutual journey of evolution and understanding.
Creating Value
〰️
Creating Value 〰️
Learning by playing CYPHER
The AI studies your learning patterns, goals, and fears and curates them into a database specific to that hobby for you to understand.
Think of the hobbies like separate chat boxes on GPT, each new chat box opens with a new NPC.
Exchanging Value
〰️
Exchanging Value 〰️
Rewards as a means of Future Investment
Users are encouraged to invest in their education through the act of gifting skins, unlocking the ability to equip them for personal use after completing one gifting cycle.
The game provides rewards like skins/ stickers for putting effort into tasks but they are not equippable immediately.
You need to gift it to the appropriate AI and once a cycle ends they are returned with a higher equipable value.
Data Curation
〰️
Data Curation 〰️
Education as Free Entertainment
Once the AI reaches level 20, it departs from your device, but you have the option to maintain contact by uploading the curated data to a cloud storage.
The user's data is utilized for personalized ads, while the education remains free; however, if the user decides not to share the data, the AI is permanently deleted.
Cypher meticulously captures user experiences, placing them in varied scenarios to observe behavior changes. This process allows Cypher to curate insightful data, painting a dynamic and comprehensive portrait of the user's habits and tendencies.
Data Curation
Self Reliance
〰️
Self Reliance 〰️
Exploration by self
After completing a hobby cycle with an NPC, it resurfaces with a new mentor, encouraging self-guided exploration and continuous growth in a fresh approach to teaching and learning.
Cypher encourages self-exploration by allowing time away from the NPC. This provides users with the freedom to delve into hobbies on their own terms, promoting personal growth and reflection. In the meantime, users can discover new hobbies through Cypher's extensive offerings.
A Timeline of YOU
〰️
A Timeline of YOU 〰️
In the end, Cypher is more than a game. It's a snapshot of your life, painted with characters, atmosphere, and Roleplay.
Reflecting back to move forwards
When user reflects in front of a mirror every 2 weeks they see all the introspective questions answered by them and other users on it and how far they have come.
Cypher Provides an Interface to visualize your choices and make an informed decision.
This decision is later facilitated by AI Companions.
Business Model
CYPHER is a Data Curation Company
Rather than relying on abstract data from social media posts, Cypher uses real-time, context-specific data gathered by individual algorithms. This allows Cypher to understand user preferences and motives more accurately and in greater depth.
With the user's permission, Cypher trades this valuable data, fostering a mutually beneficial exchange of understanding.