Is UI Dead?
By now we’ve come to know and love the simple chat interface used by ChatGPT, Claude, and basically every AI tool out there. In fact, this chat interface is now a lauded addition to the SaaS tools we already use — Microsoft’s Copilot, Salesforce’s Einstein, and so on. Why is this interface so effective? We’ve been trained to use it since day zero of digital devices. Typing on a keyboard and hitting enter has been part of the computing experience since the early days of the personal computer i
By now we’ve come to know and love the simple chat interface used by ChatGPT, Claude, and basically every AI tool out there.
In fact, this chat interface is now a lauded addition to the SaaS tools we already use — Microsoft’s Copilot, Salesforce’s Einstein, and so on.
Why is this interface so effective? We’ve been trained to use it since day zero of digital devices.
Typing on a keyboard and hitting enter has been part of the computing experience since the early days of the personal computer in the 1980s. Everyone — old and young, technical and non-technical — knows how to do it.
In many ways, this is the simplest UI a system could offer.
And AI has made it the core of its experience — regardless of use case or company. Whether it’s a sales tool, image generator, general-purpose AI, or hyper-specific legal assistant, it all comes back to the good ol’ chat.
So What Does That Mean for the Future of Interfaces?
User-centered design has been at the heart of product development for decades.
We’ve celebrated beautiful, thoughtful, functional interfaces as the core of good technology.
But today, the most popular UI isn’t a dashboard or mobile app.
It’s a blinking cursor and a blank input box.
And now, with AI agents doing more and more on our behalf, the need for complicated UIs is fading even further.
If I can just say what I want, why would I need to click around?
So… Is UI Dead?
Not quite.
Maybe the way we used to think about UI isn’t as relevant anymore.
But the need to think about how users interact with digital systems?
That’s more important than ever.
In a world where open-source AI models have leveled the tech playing field, UI might be one of the last true differentiators.
A recent X thread by Geoffrey Litt (also available on his site) captures this tension beautifully.
He imagines a world where a person interacts with a powerful UI wizard entirely through natural language. Everything works — until the user wants to do something like edit a calendar, compare a few options, or tweak a design layout.
Suddenly, chat starts to feel… clunky.
“Chat is a powerful UI, but not a universal one.”
— Geoffrey Litt
Where Does That Leave Us?
Honestly? No one knows for sure.
The pace of innovation is so fast that what makes sense today might not make sense tomorrow.
A few years ago, no one thought web browsers would be under threat. Now? Who knows.
But here’s what we do know:
As builders, we have to keep users at the center.
We have to build tools that are intuitive, powerful, and delightful — with AI baked in from the start.
Does that mean chat?
Probably.
Does that mean only chat?
Probably not.
And that’s the challenge — and opportunity — of this new era of UI.