There’s an app for everything these days

There’s an app for everything these days. What happens to UX when users stop opening apps and simply tell an AI what they want done?

There is growing discussion around AI-first interfaces that could replace traditional app navigation with intent. Instead of opening several apps, moving between screens and completing each step manually, a user might simply say: “Book me a train to London tomorrow morning.” The agent could then compare options, check the user’s preferences, choose a service and prepare the booking.

That sounds like a much simpler experience. And quite a futuristic one.

But it does not remove the need for UX design. Instead it moves the difficult design work somewhere else. Product teams will still need to decide:

• What information can the agent access?
• How does the user know which services it has chosen?
• When should it ask for confirmation?
• How does someone correct a misunderstanding?
• What happens when an action cannot be undone?

The visible journey may become shorter, but under the surface the working system becomes more complex. A user might no longer need to navigate ten screens, but they still need to understand what is happening, maintain control, and recover when the AI gets something wrong.

This is where you can easily confuse capability with experience. An agent completing a task is technically impressive. An agent completing the right task, explaining its choices and giving the user confidence throughout the process is really good UX.

AI may change what interfaces look like, but ultimately it will not remove the need to design them carefully.