USE IS MEANING

Use is Meaning derives from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s insight that the meaning of a word—or any designed object—is not determined by definition but by its use in practice. In other words, we understand what something is by how it is used, not by what it claims to be. This is not the case, every and always, it is simply the case in the context of what we see as "intelligence."

In the context of AI and UX, this principle reframes design ethics from intentionality to functionality. What matters is not what we say a system does, but how it behaves in the hands of users, and what relationships and realities that use creates.

Designers often assert purpose through mission statements or onboarding language, but meaning emerges in the lived encounter—when the interface is touched, the model is prompted, or the algorithm acts. Every feature teaches a behavior, and every behavior establishes a moral grammar.

Through the AI-E lens, “Use is Meaning” reminds us that systems speak through action. Their ethical value is not encoded in documentation but in use patterns—the everyday negotiations between affordance and intent. When a technology is used to exclude, surveil, or manipulate, that use defines its meaning, regardless of its stated goal.

Thus, to design ethically is to observe meaning as it unfolds in use, not as it is declared in principle. It is to treat data, interface, and interaction as living language—constantly rewritten by those who engage with it.