What is the interface of the future? Will it be chatbots everywhere 🤔
I've stopped arguing with my wife these days, mainly because my co-founder and I have plenty to argue about while we build our AI product. One of our recent debates centers around the future of user interfaces. Will chatbots take over? Are autonomous agents the next big thing? Or will the future be so hyper-personalized that interfaces as we know them will become obsolete?
Chatbots initially gained a poor reputation. Users frequently had to ask, "connect me to a human," because the technology simply wasn't there. Now, as AI advances, chatbots are making a comeback. But do we need them everywhere? It’s a question worth pondering.
Move a bit further into the future, and you’ll find autonomous agents. Assign them a task, and they’ll complete it, notifying you only if there’s an issue or the task is done. How will they get feedback? If they're truly autonomous, waiting for feedback seems counterintuitive.
Imagine an even further scenario: no interfaces at all. In this world, your personal AI agent knows your preferences so well that it handles tasks without your active involvement. Take, for example, buying an iPhone 15 Pro. Your agent considers reseller options, applies any corporate discounts, calls & negotiates trade-ins for your current phone, and finally informs you via notification. The process is smooth and requires no active input from your end.
In this AI-saturated future, traditional interfaces might only serve as a last resort. And that leaves us with questions to ponder:
Will every website have a central chatbot?
How will enterprises adapt to AI over human interactions?
What design changes are needed for an AI-first approach?
Keen to hear your thoughts
Interesting topic to explore. I've been an observer for the past few months, and I've noticed that the market is saturated with AI-first SaaS and software-based businesses. Every idea I have feels like a feature that could be implemented as an add-on to a chatbot.
I believe that AI will dominate business logic in services and that interactions with end users will be reduced. Chatbots are not intuitive to use, and in enterprise settings, no one wants to repeat prompts. Instead, I believe there will be a hybrid approach, where users provide minimal inputs and intent, and the service works to deliver results, refining them as needed. In terms of design changes, I think AI would be a seamlessly integrated guide rather than a chatbot.