"The Designer's Playbook for AI Products The old rules still apply (mostly) Here's something that surprised me: designing for AI isn't as alien as it sounds. The fundamentals (user needs, clear feedback, intuitive flows) don't disappear just because there's a language model involved. If anything, they matter more. When the system can generate unpredictable outputs, your job as a designer is to create enough structure that users don't feel lost."
"But there's a catch. Traditional interfaces are deterministic. You click a button, something happens, and it happens the same way every time. AI breaks that contract. The same prompt can yield different responses. The system might confidently give you wrong information. It might do exactly what you asked but not what you meant. According to research from Maggie Appleton, conversational AI is slow. Users struggle to articulate their intent efficiently, sometimes taking 30 to 60 seconds just to type what they need."
Design fundamentals—user needs, clear feedback, and intuitive flows—remain crucial when integrating AI into products. Language models introduce nondeterminism: identical prompts can produce different responses and the system can confidently provide incorrect information or follow instructions literally rather than as intended. Designers must create structure and guidance so users do not feel lost and to mitigate unpredictable outputs. Conversational interfaces tend to be slow; users often take 30–60 seconds to type intent and may struggle with blank chat inputs. Passive input fields serve as poor onboarding, so interfaces should surface prompts, examples, and scaffolding to accelerate user expression.
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