A New Book by Hamilton Jones · Coming 2026

The Dual
Experience

Defining Human Machine Experience as a discipline. The first book on designing for both human customers and the AI systems acting on their behalf, and knowing which audience matters most at any given moment.

5 New Frameworks 4 Parts 30,000+ Words Late 2026

The Evidence

The dual audience is not a prediction.
It is deployed at billion-user scale right now.

All three major AI labs have independently built crawlers, citation systems, browsing agents, and agentic protocols. Not one has published guidance for organisations on how to design for this new audience. That gap is where this book sits.

800M

Weekly active ChatGPT users interacting with brands on behalf of customers

OpenAI / DemandSage, Feb 2026

4.4x

Higher conversion rate from AI-referred visitors compared to organic search

Semrush, July 2025

28.3%

Of ChatGPT-cited pages have zero Google visibility. A new discovery layer has arrived.

Ahrefs, October 2025

50%

Of organisations predicted to require AI-free skills assessments as over-reliance on AI degrades human critical thinking

HCAI Research, 2026

80%

Of customer-led technology projects fail to deliver value. Strategy before roadmap. Human experience before automation.

Industry research

15-20%

Of CEO revenue projected to come from machine customers by 2030. The other 80% still depends on human experience.

Gartner

51%

Of customers willing to delegate service to AI. The moments they choose to keep human become more deliberate and more valuable.

Gartner, 2025

~280x

Reduction in AI inference costs over recent years. The dual audience is not a niche phenomenon. It is a mainstream economic reality.

Industry research

The Thesis

Three propositions. One new discipline.

What this book argues, and why it matters now.

01

Human experience has not diminished. It has become more concentrated.

As machines handle routine interactions, the remaining human-led moments become disproportionately valuable. Research shows that high automation and high human control are not a trade-off; they are achievable simultaneously. The rise of the machine audience makes it more important, not less, to know where human experience, human agency, and human dignity are irreplaceable.

02

A new audience has arrived that most organisations are not designing for.

AI agents browse, evaluate, compare, shortlist, transact, and service on behalf of human customers. Designing for this audience is a distinct skill with its own principles, tools, and success metrics.

03

The real capability gap is knowing when each audience matters.

It is not human experience or machine experience in isolation. It is knowing when each matters, designing the transitions between them, and establishing the Human Floor: the defined set of moments where human control, human oversight, and human agency are non-negotiable. This is the core of Human Machine Experience, HMX.

What The Book Delivers

Five new frameworks to design for both audiences.

The book introduces five original frameworks, none of which exist anywhere in the current literature. They are purpose-built for a problem no existing toolkit addresses: designing experiences where human customers and AI systems interact with your organisation simultaneously.

  • Know which audience matters, whenA decision tool that maps any touchpoint across four design variables, so you can see where to optimise for human perception and where to optimise for machine parsing.
  • Protect the moments that matter mostA method for identifying and defending the high-stakes human interactions that should never be automated by default. Grounded in human-centred AI research showing that human agency is cultivated through interactions, not preserved by removing them.
  • Design the handoff, not just the channelA dual-layer journey map that overlays human and machine experience across your customer lifecycle, with explicit focus on the transition points between them.
  • Audit how AI sees your brandA visibility framework that reveals how your organisation appears, or disappears, in AI-generated responses across six measurable dimensions.
  • Build trust in both directionsA trust model that addresses not just what AI says about your organisation, but the deeper verification crisis: as AI makes all digital evidence forgeable, which of your trust signals depend on verifiable human experience?

Why five new frameworks?

The strategic case for machine customers has been made. Gartner has documented the revenue opportunity and the C-suite urgency. What has been missing is the design layer: the operational tools for teams who need to build experiences that serve both audiences without compromising either.

Equally missing: the human-centred design principles that ensure automation enhances human dignity rather than eroding it. These frameworks draw on HCAI research, agentic experience design, and the principle that high automation and high human control are not a trade-off.

Inside The Book

Four parts. One clear progression.

The reader moves from reassurance to clarity to confidence to resolve. They finish feeling more capable, not more anxious.

Part One

Two Audiences

Reassurance

Your CX investment was not wasted. You just need a new lens. This section defines the dual audience, presents evidence that human experience concentrates rather than diminishes as machines take over routine interactions, and introduces the spectrum that connects human and machine experience.

Part Two

The Four Pillars

Clarity

Here is what to actually do. AI visibility, machine journey design, experience architecture, and machine trust. Four chapters that balance machine optimisation with human-centred design principles, each with a framework you can apply on Monday morning.

Part Three

Building the Capability

Confidence

You know where you are and exactly how to move forward. A maturity model, organisational archetypes, and a practical audit that gives you a baseline without needing external help to start.

Part Four

What Comes Next

Resolve

The window is open now. Agentic experience design, the Human Floor as a non-negotiable design principle, and why the organisations that build HMX capability while protecting human dignity, agency, and control will define the standard for everyone who follows.

Where This Book Sits

The strategic case is settled.
The design discipline has not been named.

Gartner has spent a decade building the strategic case for machine customers. Their research documents the revenue opportunity, the three-phase evolution model, and the C-suite urgency. That work is right, and it matters.

What it leaves open is the question a CMO, CCO, or CDO actually faces on Monday morning: how do you design for both audiences simultaneously, how do you know which one matters most in any given moment, and how do you ensure that optimising for the machine does not erode the human experience, human agency, and human trust that your organisation depends on?

That is a design question, not a strategy question. It requires both machine optimisation and human-centred design principles. It does not have a playbook yet. This book is the playbook.

Gartner tells you a new customer has arrived. The Dual Experience tells you how to design the line between your human and machine audiences, and why getting that line right is worth more than either side of it.

About the Author

Hamilton Jones

Hamilton Jones

Head of Strategy (AI & Digital Transformation), Deepend Sydney

Hamilton has spent 25 years at the intersection of strategy, technology, and customer experience. He has led transformation programmes for organisations across financial services, health and insurance, government, infrastructure, and transport.

His strategic frameworks, including ACES and the Visibility Engine, have been applied across some of Australia's most complex organisations. The Dual Experience is the first book to define HMX as a discipline, and the credibility anchor for a broader advisory practice.

  • 25 years across strategy, technology, and customer experience
  • Senior leadership at MullenLowe Profero, Wipro Digital, and UM Australia
  • Founded and exited his own agency
  • Sectors: financial services, health and insurance, government, infrastructure, airports and transport
  • Author of the ACES framework and the Visibility Engine
  • Based in Sydney, Australia

Get Involved

This book is being shaped by the people it is written for.

There are three ways to be part of it. Sign up and let us know which is relevant to you.

  • Senior reviewers. A small group of senior leaders will receive early chapters and shape the final manuscript. If you lead customer experience, digital strategy, or transformation, your perspective matters.
  • Insider and designer perspectives. If you work or have worked inside an AI lab, search engine, or enterprise platform shaping how AI interacts with brands, or you design digital experiences for organisations navigating this shift, we would value 20 to 30 minutes of your time. On the record, credited by name.
  • Stay close. Occasional updates as the book takes shape. Key findings, framework previews, and publication milestones. No spam. No noise.

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