Rethinking Design - UI for AI instead of AI for UI

From the early days of punch cards and command-line interfaces to the rise of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), the way humans interact with machines has continuously evolved. For decades, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) as an art and science has been about improving usability for humans—making interfaces more intuitive, accessible, and efficient. AI will has become an integral part of present day software, and the paradigm has shifted. Instead of just embedding and bolting on AI tools/agents/workflows into current UIs (AI for UI), we need to rethink HCI through the lens of UI for AI—interfaces designed to facilitate seamless interaction between users and AI tools.

AI Agents: The Next Evolution of Software Libraries

For decades, software development has relied on libraries and APIs—predefined sets of functions that developers call to execute specific tasks. But AI agents disrupt and change this paradigm:

• AI agents act as dynamic, intelligent components that adapt, learn, and generate responses rather than just executing predefined logic.
• Calling an AI agent is like calling a function—except the function reasons, predicts, and optimizes in real-time.
• Developers are shifting from writing procedural code to orchestrating AI workflows, where agents make complex decisions on their own.
• End-users interact with software in a goal-oriented manner, issuing commands or questions rather than navigating rigid UI structures.

So What Does it Mean for UI/UX?

As AI agents transition from being tools embedded in software to core components that replace traditional software libraries, Software UI/UX is long due for a re-design itself. Few elements which I feel are critical to significantly improve productivity and enhance the user experience:

• Adaptive and Context Aware UI
  Just like an AI Agent, the UI system also takes into account the User Intent, Context and learn from User Behavior over time.
• A Goals Oriented dynamic interactive menu
  Instead of rigid menu items and buttons, the UI becomes much more dynamic and fluid.
• UX as an active and evolving layer with continuous learning
  We see UX becoming an active and self-learning component of the user facing software stack and will be a huge change from where it is today - Static and pre-defined menu items

We are at the beginning of this transformation and are designing UI/UX with an AI-first approach. The best solutions will have to be deliberate about wrapping user intent, context and behavior as a part of the user experience and journeys.