“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to sell it.” – Steve Jobs
But now be careful. What do users need from an AI product? There are only three points.
- They need smart AI.
- They need AI that can be integrated into work and life.
- They need AI to be controllable.
This is from my experience of, first, running an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) company before Large Language Model (LLM) technology became applicable, and second, working as a founding member in a cutting-edge AI agent startup company.
Customer experience is still the top focus. Nevertheless, you need to shift your user experience (UX) attention to the smartness of AI. As long as an AI is “insanely” intelligent, work/life integrated, and controllable, people buy it.
For “Traditional” software, User Interface (UI) and UX are the highest priority. For AI? Not anymore! Users, especially business clients, can endure the unfriendly UI and the huge friction to use AI. Users and businesses at any moment fear that they might not be able to catch up with the trend of AI. It’s about survival. On the contrary, those who don’t keep alert won’t survive.
Thus, don’t worry about the business model and UI design.
“That’s what a lot of customers pay us to do—is to try to make the best products we can. And if we succeed, they’ll buy ’em. And if we don’t, they won’t.” – Steve Jobs
When it comes to AI, just make the smartest AI you can. If you succeed, they’ll buy ’em. And if you don’t, they won’t.