UX Through the Looking Glass

UX-led AI: Designing Beyond the Screen User experience of AI is beyond screens. For decades, UX was tangled with UI design and limited to what the user could see and touch. As someone who has been championing holistic experience long before “UX” was mainstream, I’ve seen the field evolve from static wireframes to dynamic service design ecosystems. Now, with AI redefining the interaction landscape, the boundaries of “interface” have expanded—and so should our UX approach.

Tony Tudor

7/28/20252 min read

a man riding a skateboard down the side of a ramp

1. AI Touchpoints Go Beyond Visual Interfaces

AI experiences often happen without a traditional screen—think voice assistants or chatbots. When designing for Alexa, Google Assistant, or even SMS-based customer support, journey mapping is crucial. The entry points for these interactions may be ambient (voice-activated in a smart home) or contextual (embedded in apps), and require designers to anticipate user intent across modalities. Example: A user asks their smart speaker for weather updates while cooking—the entire interaction is hands-free, screenless, and must be frictionless.

2. Conversation Design is the New Wireframe

Crafting the flow of dialogue is as critical as structuring a UI. For AI-driven chatbots, scenario mapping and utterance trees replace the classic task flow diagrams. Designers must identify user intents, edge cases, and error recovery paths. A practical example: When users ask a banking bot for their account balance, the bot should handle ambiguous queries (“How much do I have left?”) and escalate gracefully and securely if the request is outside its scope.

3. Service Design Aligns AI Touchpoints Across the Ecosystem

AI is rarely a standalone product—it’s embedded in a broader service ecosystem. Service blueprints help visualize both front-stage (user-visible) and back-stage (system-driven) interactions. For instance, consider an airline using AI to predict delays and proactively inform passengers via SMS, app notification, or automated voice call. The user’s experience is seamless only if every channel and backend process is in sync.

4. Trust and Transparency are UX’s North Star in AI

Human-centered AI must communicate its logic and limitations to foster user trust. Micro-copy, feedback loops, and transparency about data use become design deliverables. Example: When a voice assistant says, “Here’s what I found on your calendar for today,” and offers to read it aloud, it reinforces control and clarity. If the AI cannot assist, it should say so plainly and offer alternatives.

UX design for AI is not about pixels—it’s about orchestrating meaningful, accessible, and trustworthy experiences across every user touchpoint. As AI interfaces proliferate—often screenless or operating in the background—the UX lens becomes essential to ensure technology feels human, intuitive, and genuinely helpful. Designers must embrace service design, conversation flows, and ethical transparency to shape the future of AI-powered interactions.