Design: Artificial Intelligence Design

For decades, principles relating to usability, predictability, and efficiency have guided UX design, ensuring that users can complete their tasks with minimal cognitive effort. With traditional, direct-manipulation graphic user interfaces (GUIs), users take action, then the system responds in consistent, expected ways.

However, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) disrupts this UX design paradigm by introducing an interaction model that is based on the specification of intent-based outcomes. [1] Instead of following predefined workflows, users describe what they want, and the AI generates variable results—often with unpredictable or emergent outcomes. [2, 3, 4]

This UX design paradigm shift that we’re currently experiencing challenges long-standing UX design heuristics such as consistency, predictability, and seamlessness. Designing for GenAI requires a new approach—one that embraces transparency, adaptability, and user control, empowering users to navigate uncertainty, iteration, and co-creation rather than expecting deterministic outputs. Read More

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly woven into the fabric of our daily lives, from recommendation engines to large language models (LLMs) that assist with our professional tasks. However, there is a growing concern that our reliance on AI systems promotes cognitive offloading, diminishes critical thinking, and disrupts the development of human mastery. As users delegate reasoning to AI systems, bypassing traditional methods of developing expertise, they reduce their critical engagement with their tasks. All of these factors warrant a deeper exploration to understand the implications of AI on human cognition, creativity, and innovation.

Current research into the influence of AI across different age groups and contexts is beginning to expose the full impact of cognitive offloading. Gerlich’s 2025 study, “AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking,” [1] provides valuable insights into this phenomenon. Through a mixed-methods approach to research, involving 666 participants, Gerlich found that heavy AI use significantly reduced users’ critical-thinking skills, mainly because users offloaded cognitive tasks to AI tools rather than engaging deeply with problems themselves. Younger participants, in particular, exhibited a higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical-thinking scores, emphasizing the need for strategies to mitigate these cognitive costs. Read More

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly playing a greater role in a variety of business sectors. The domain of UX design is no exception. Although some developers and UX designers have lingering skepticism about AI, they are embracing AI because of the many benefits it offers.

In fact, a recent survey by HubSpot shows that about 49% of UX designers are using AI to experiment with new design strategies or elements. What role does AI currently play in UX design? Will AI replace UX design or UX designers? Continue reading to find out what UX designers can expect from AI tools. Read More