Lesson · ⏱ 6 min read
🎨 UX for AI features: designing for uncertainty
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🏠 Real-life example
Google Maps doesn't just say '20 minutes'. It shows a range, live traffic colours, and lets you pick another route. It's honest about uncertainty and keeps you in control. Good AI features do the same: they show sources, let you edit, and make it easy to say 'that's wrong'.
💡 In simple words
AI is sometimes wrong, so design for it. Stream responses so users see progress instead of a spinner. Show sources or citations so users can verify. Make outputs editable and reversible, and put the human in charge of the final action. Add feedback buttons (👍/👎 with a reason) and log them to improve your evals. Set expectations with clear empty states and example prompts. Handle failure gracefully with a helpful fallback, not a raw error. Small UX choices often matter more for adoption than a slightly better model.
🪜 Step by step
- Set expectations: label AI output as a draft or suggestion, and say what it can and can't do.
- Show sources or reasons so users can check quickly.
- Make editing and undo easy; never auto apply important changes.
- Design the failure path: what happens when the AI is unsure, slow or wrong? Offer a fallback or a human.
- Collect feedback in the flow (thumbs, edits) and review it weekly to improve prompts and evals.
🔑 Key terms
- Streaming UI
- Showing the answer as it's generated.
- Human-in-control
- AI suggests, and the user confirms or edits before acting.
- Feedback loop
- Collecting 👍/👎 to find and fix weak answers.
👀 See it in action
AI email reply feature, good UX:
✍️ Draft streams in → user edits → [Send] (never auto-sends)
📎 'Based on: Order #A123, Refund policy §2' (sources)
👍👎 'Was this helpful?' → logged for evals
⚠️ On error: 'Couldn't draft a reply. Here's a template instead.'The AI drafts, the human decides, and every step is visible.
⚠️ Common mistakes to avoid
- Hiding that content is AI generated. Users trust products more when it's clear.
- A blank chat box as the only interface. Suggest example prompts or put AI where users already work.
✅ Quick check
Which design choice best builds user trust in an AI answer?
- Longer answers
- Hiding that AI was used
- Showing sources and letting users edit
Show answer
C. Showing sources and letting users edit: Users trust what they can verify and control.
🙋 Questions learners ask
Chat interface or buttons?
For repeated, well defined tasks, a button ("Summarise", "Draft reply") is faster. Chat suits open ended exploration.
How do I show uncertainty?
Highlight parts that need checking, show sources, or say "I'm not sure" and offer options, rather than showing raw confidence numbers.
📌 Remember
Stream it, source it, let users edit it, and learn from feedback.
📖 Words from this lesson (AI dictionary)
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