Some UX problems have been with us for so long that we no longer thought we could do better. Do you want to collect data from people? Web forms. Do people not understand how your app works? On board. But new technologies create new opportunities, including ways to address long-standing UX challenges.
Nowadays, AI in software applications mainly appears as a chat panel screwed down the side of a user interface. While often useful, it is not the only way to improve the user experience of an application with AI. We can also use what AI models are good at to address common user pain points that have existed for years.
I’ve written about some of these approaches, but I thought it would be useful to summarize a few to illustrate the higher level.
Rethinking onboarding
Most apps start with empty statuses and onboarding flows that teach people how to use them. Show the user interface. Explain the features. Walk through examples. I hope people stick around long enough to see the value in it.
AI turns this around. Instead of starting from scratch, AI can generate something that humans can edit. Give people work content from day one. Let them refine, not create from scratch. The difference is immediate engagement versus delayed gratification. People can start using your product right away because there is already something to work with. They learn by seeing what is possible, by adapting, by doing.
More inside Let the AI ​​do the onboarding…
Revisit search
Search interfaces traditionally meant keyword boxes, drop-down menus, and faceted filters. Do you want to find something specific? Learn our taxonomy. Understand our categorization scheme. Click through multiple refinement options.
World knowledge is baked into AI models. They understand the context. They can translate a natural question into a multi-step question without humans having to do the work. “Show me ’90s action movies with high ratings” doesn’t need separate dropdowns for genre, decade, and rating threshold. The AI ​​figures out the query structure. It combines the filters. It delivers results.
People search in many different ways. AI can handle that diversity better than rigid UI widgets ever could.
More inside World knowledge improves AI apps…
Rethink forms
Web forms exist to structure information for databases. Field labels. Input types. Validation rules. Forms force people to fit their information into our predetermined boxes.
But AI works with unstructured input. People can simply post an image, a PDF file or a URL. The AI ​​extracts the structured data. It fills the database fields. The machine does the layout work instead of humans. This shifts the burden from users to systems. People communicate naturally. Software provides the structure.
More inside Unstructured input in AI apps instead of web forms…
These examples have a common thread: AI capabilities make us rethink how humans interact with software. Not by adding AI functions to existing patterns, but by rethinking the patterns themselves based on what AI makes possible. The limitations that have shaped our current UX conventions are changing, so it’s time to rethink our solutions.
#LukeW #Addressing #common #hurdles