UX Meets AI: What Designers and Product Managers Need to Know

In the age of AI, software has begun to meet humans on their own terms. AI systems can interpret context, predict outcomes, and engage with human communication in more nuanced ways. However, humans are inherently fallible, and in creating machines that think and communicate like us, we’ve also made them capable of error. While AIs can extrapolate and make educated guesses, they often lack the precision required for critical tasks. For instance, would you trust an AI to hallucinate your bank account balance or improvise air traffic control?

Incorporating AI into software requires careful consideration of the functionality and the human experience that we are creating given AI’s strengths and weaknesses. Machines can now make assumptions, guesses—and mistakes. Historically, the idea of a machine being wrong was almost inconceivable.

Another often overlooked aspect of AI is the fact that its very power to amplify our explorations and extrapolate from our expectations can be a liability when a user with a focused mission meets an AI that simply says, “Ask me a question…about anything.” The potential for fascination at the expense of productivity is immense.

Today, as software evolves from a passive tool to an active AI-driven participant, from a rigid structure the user must serve to a mind extension that molds itself to a user’s needs, UX designers must grapple with profound questions: How should interfaces adapt when machines exhibit human-like flaws? How do we focus the activity in a productive way? What role does our primary sense, vision, have now that a verbal interface has become so powerful? What is an adequate level of reliability and precision that can engender trust in systems that are no longer error-free? How do we help the user take best advantage of the ocean of information that AI can access and organize in response to a user’s question?

The rise of machine intelligence carries significant implications for the future of UX and UI design. Just as the E-commerce revolution reshaped industries, companies that quickly innovate and deliver AI-enabled software that drives great human experiences will gain a decisive advantage. The race to define this new era of interaction is on—let’s get started!

Structuring the Conversation: UX in the Age of AI

This blog series will explore how human-centered UX can be designed to encourage users to embrace AI, tackling several critical questions:

• What are the nuanced challenges that AI brings to the world of UX design?
• How do we reimagine the human-machine interface when the machine is intelligent?
• How to design UX for new applications designed with AI copilots and other AI-enhanced capabilities? What is a native AI interface?
• How can AI functionality enrich existing applications without requiring costly, full-scale redesigns?
• What level of AI performance contributes to a positive user experience, and how does the application’s context shape set this bar?
• How do model size, type, and implementation affect UX design decisions more generally?
• Are there emerging trends and best practices that designers can adopt to gain a leg up in this evolving field?
• What are some limitations to the use of AI in software that UX designers should consider?

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Intended Audience

If you are interested in AI, or if you have a vested interest in the success of a digital product, this series is for you. It is for business owners and executives, for product managers and business analysts, and for UX designers. Most articles will help inform the formulation of product and design objectives. We will tread but lightly on technical UX techniques, which will be the subject of a separate upcoming series.

Looking Ahead: Topics for Future Exploration

While this series will focus on the immediate challenges, additional questions are emerging that will merit attention (and be fun to discuss) in later posts:

• Is there a unique user experience when the user is itself an AI?
• Does it matter—socially, commercially, or practically—whether creativity originates from a human or an AI in UX design?
• Are we headed back to the command prompt as a primary interface as a common interface? How do we engage our other senses for a higher-bandwidth interaction with AI?

This series aims for a well-rounded exploration of UX in the age of AI, combining forward-looking insights with practical advice, and sparking further inquiry into the future of design.

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