AI and Gamification: A Revolution in User Experience

As we move into 2025, I see AI reshaping the digital landscape at an unprecedented pace. Whether we need it there or not, it's in every corner of our Digital lives and here to stay. Looking back on my career in user experience (UX) and game design, I wonder how things might have been over 20 years ago if AI had been around from the start.

AI's potential to streamline tasks and boost creativity would have been transformative. Like most things, there are a few early adopters and many sceptics. This happens every 30 years when technology catches up with vision and expectation. Remember, 30 years ago, very few people had mobile phones or Internet access; today, you will be hard-pressed to find that now. Fast-forward 30 years, and we may be hard-pressed to find places where AI has not been present or made an impact. The transformative potential of AI in the past inspires us to look forward to the future possibilities it holds.

For me and my career, the most exciting part of AI's rise is its impact on gamification mechanics. Gamification, by definition, is about keeping users engaged by making activities, whether game, service or product usage more fun and rewarding. With AI, this becomes smarter, more personalised, and more dynamic. Imagine a game that learns as you play, adjusting levels, challenges, and rewards to fit your style and skill. AI helps maintain a 'loop', a continuous cycle of challenge and reward that keeps users engaged by making experiences enjoyable but never too easy.

AI significantly enhances gamification mechanics by personalising challenges, rewards, and content to match individual player preferences. This personalisation goes beyond static features by adapting in real-time based on user behaviour; it deepens the customer's knowledge. For example, AI can assess a player's actions and adjust difficulty levels, pacing, and rewards to maintain engagement without causing frustration. The dynamic learning curve it creates helps players stay in a "Loop" where challenges are matched to skill levels, making the experience enjoyable and motivating.

AI-powered platforms can adjust game 'loops' based on player behaviour. Generative AI and machine learning enable systems to offer tailored content, such as personalised quests or rewards, depending on a player's interests and past interactions. In popular games like FIFA and The Last of Us Part II, AI adapts opponents' behaviour or storyline elements to keep players invested and engaged. These games exemplify how AI's adaptive capabilities can make game experiences more immersive and responsive to player input. This, of course, serves as a fantastic replay behaviour to uncover alternatives and different endings. It is this that keeps AI relevant and fresh. Seeing repetition causes fatigue in the play, which is equally appropriate for products and services with a 'Gamification mechanic'.

Personalising all aspects of the customer's experience

AI's magic lies in its ability to personalise every aspect of a game—or any product experience, for that matter. It can analyse user behaviour, tailoring everything from the difficulty curve to the rewards system in real-time. This extends beyond gaming. For example, Starbucks uses AI in its loyalty programs, learning what users love and making personalised suggestions that are hard to resist. It's not just about the game anymore; it's about the user journey.

In social games, AI personalisation improves interaction. It suggests in-game friends based on play styles or creates co-op challenges for specific player groups. This drives community, which is central to social gaming. By adapting to individual user behaviour, AI makes social games more engaging and keeps players returning.

In banking, AI-driven gamification can encourage users to save more by setting personalised financial goals, tracking progress, and offering rewards for milestones reached. Educational platforms use AI to create adaptive learning paths, offering levels and achievements tailored to a student's performance. In fitness apps, AI tracks user workouts and introduces new challenges or rewards as users hit milestones, motivating consistent participation. By applying gamification in these sectors, AI improves user engagement and drives behaviour change and satisfaction.

The future of AI and conversational interface will allow us to control the personality and behaviour of the AI as if it is an extension of the brand and tone of voice. I see a huge benefit in configuring aspects of an AI and Avatar. For example, if you want your AI to be confident, polite, and helpful, this will reflect on a use case where customer service would be perfect for this personality type—helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. This can also reflect if your brand thrives on personality or a certain attitude.

AI Learning & becoming the Tutor

AI-powered virtual assistants are also stepping up in user onboarding and training, making learning intuitive and engaging. These digital guides adjust their support based on user progress, offering tips, tutorials, and context-sensitive help that keeps users on track. Imagine an AI guide that explains a feature and adapts its advice to match the user's experience level. This approach transforms games, educational apps, sales training tools, and beyond. AI can also break down the language barrier when interacting with the customer. Any language should be used for the AI to give well-articulated responses. We often complain about call centres and the inability to access a person to speak to. Still, sometimes there is a knowledge, language or comprehension gap when talking to someone. AI can be the mirror of the person conversing with it.

Gamified UX & Progression

Reinforcement learning is a specific AI technique which redefines progression loops, leaderboards, and rewards. Learning from player actions optimises what to offer and when making rewards feel more earned and exciting. For example, AI might suggest new challenges when player motivation starts to dip, maintaining engagement without feeling forced. This adaptive approach keeps users hooked by balancing challenge and achievement, which drives repeat play.

AI also enables 'adaptive difficulty ', a feature that keeps players within their skill zone. This means it monitors user performance and adjusts the gameplay to prevent boredom or frustration. For example, if a player consistently performs well, the game will increase the difficulty to match their skill level, providing a more challenging experience. If a player struggles, the game will reduce the difficulty to prevent frustration. This dynamic experience can extend to personalised achievements, with rewards aligned to each player's progress, making the game more satisfying.

However, with AI-driven personalisation comes responsibility. There's a fine line between creating engaging experiences and exploiting user behaviour. Ethical AI design is crucial to prevent manipulative tactics that lead to over-engagement. AI must prioritise transparency, user consent, and respect for privacy. It should promote healthy interactions, encourage breaks and set usage limits when needed. This kind of design helps build trust and reassures the audience about the responsible use of AI in gamification.

Ethical Use of AI

The future of AI in gamification is limitless. Imagine games that create entirely new storylines in real-time, adapting to player choices in unpredictable ways. AI could generate evolving worlds based on user actions, making each experience unique. Real-time personalisation will blur the lines between games and interactive stories, creating living ecosystems that feel personal and engaging. This emphasis on the role of AI in creating unique and evolving experiences will excite the audience about the future of gamification.

AI in gamification isn't just about making games fun or experiences succinct—it's about crafting enriched, more meaningful, and learnable interactions across all digital experiences. As AI evolves, so will our potential to create products that entertain and genuinely enhance user lives. From personalised rewards to ethical design, AI is redefining what's possible, pushing the boundaries of engagement in games and user experience.

In short, AI is becoming embedded intelligence in experiences from much more than complex scripts and variables. It also turns gamification from a gimmick to a strategy that drives lasting user satisfaction and loyalty. As we look ahead, the next chapter of AI and UX promises to be an immersive, interactive, and ethically grounded experience tailored to everyone—one user at a time.

Conversations with AI through any channel

I certainly believe the next phase of UX and CX will return to its roots in the hands of conversation with intelligence, for example, the days of conversing with a shop seller to purchase a product or a ticket booth salesperson for a travel ticket. To speak to a bank manager or a teller about finance products they can take out, and even help and support or troubleshooting - talking to the expert.

The fact that UI is a mechanism in a digital experience for people to self-serve through logic means that we have lost the personal touch when conversing with intelligence on the other side. AI will be a return to that conversation, automation, and intelligence from the days before digitisation. Asking AI for the result means all parts are in the middle, and the complexity is handled. The bonus is that the intelligence will not fatigue, get rude, give misleading information or have an operating hours requirement. Gamification is an important mechanism that serves as a reward system for getting things right, familiar and accurate for the user. With AI-enhanced journeys and conversational AI, gamification will help with user success.

I'll wrap up with this final thought: I aim to fully embrace AI's potential in the products and experiences I design. I'm excited about creating gamified, deeply connected interactions that shape the future of AI in user experience. The loops I've mentioned—spaces of impact filled with insights, facts, thoughts, feelings, content, media, and expertise—will elevate AI to new, human-level experiences. I hope to be a key contributor as AI drives exceptional user experiences.

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