Wel AI Personal Email Assistant App

The inspiration behind the project “Wel AI” comes from observing that people often struggle with writing proper emails or messages for various situations. There are many potential solutions to this problem, ranging from searching for templates to purchasing writing services. However, one idea stood out – an AI assistant for composing emails.

While this is not a new concept, existing AI software still falls short in providing substantial help. Simply detecting tone and replacing words is not enough. We began with thorough user research and open conversations with various individuals. Through this, we learned about the current state of writing assistant apps and services, and we identified significant opportunities in this market.

The goal was to create a mobile-based writing assistant that integrates AI into daily email processes, facilitating analytical reading and offering a conversational approach to seamless email composition, guidance, and drafting. The design stands out for fostering a flexible and respectful collaboration between humans and AI, providing assistance that feels just right. It cultivates a personal writing style and a social relationship library, benefiting both the user and the AI, encouraging growth and improvement like a supportive buddy in life.

I plan to continue researching and exploring how the latest AI technology can be integrated into this design concept. Building a personal contact library and offering writing assistance that is sensitive to people with different national backgrounds are key areas of focus. I also aim to promote “Wel AI” to a diverse audience to identify customization opportunities and ensure the app meets the needs of users from various backgrounds.

The key to achieving this balance lies in our deep understanding of how AI processes and transforms human input. Through extensive testing and iterations, we carefully observed the differences between human communication styles and AI-generated content. Our most innovative approach was moving beyond standard neutral tags like "formal" or "polite" to introduce what we call the "Your Style" tag. This tag starts as a blank canvas and learns from both the user's original inputs and their subsequent refinements, creating a personalized style profile.Rather than simply having AI write emails, we're using AI to help users understand and refine their own communication style. Through this long-term learning process, users can improve their expression accuracy while the AI develops a deep understanding of their unique voice. Unlike traditional approaches where everyone gets the same "formal" or "professional" options, each user's style tag evolves differently, reflecting their individual communication patterns.

The design learns from two primary sources: the continuous flow of email communications and user interactions with the platform. By analyzing both outgoing and incoming emails, the AI builds an understanding of relationship dynamics and communication patterns. This is complemented by our unique "Your Style" tag system, which evolves as users draft, refine, and optimize their messages with AI assistance.For social relationship management, we analyze email exchanges to create detailed contact profiles. After each interaction, we update these profiles and present users with refined relationship tags, such as team member or client, along with interaction history summaries. This creates a comprehensive social relationship database.Importantly, we've implemented what we call "progressive assistance." Rather than immediately taking over email writing tasks, we start with subtle suggestions and gradually increase AI involvement as both the user and system mature. If users show hesitation or uncertainty, we scale back the assistance level. This approach ensures that users develop their communication skills alongside the AI, creating a collaborative growth experience rather than dependency.

Our research revealed several fascinating insights about human-AI interaction. First, we discovered that the boundary of acceptable AI assistance isn't fixed but rather dynamic, expanding or contracting based on user trust and AI performance. Users initially prefer minimal AI involvement, but as trust builds through successful interactions, they become comfortable with more comprehensive assistance. However, this comfort zone can contract if the AI makes mistakes, creating a breathing dynamic boundary.Second, we found that maintaining user control over final decisions is crucial, even in cases where users trust the AI completely. This is similar to having a launch button for a rocket – the final control should always rest with the human operator, providing a sense of agency and responsibility.Perhaps most surprisingly, we discovered that users often prefer AI that writes like them rather than perfectly. Even if the AI occasionally makes minor mistakes while matching their style, users showed greater trust in the system compared to one that produced flawless but impersonal content. This insight significantly influenced our design approach, leading to the development of our personalized style tags alongside standard writing options.