AI is the future of user experience

ARTICLE | September 30, 2025

AI is the future of user experience

Using enterprise tech should be as easy as asking a chatbot what to cook for dinner

By Evan Ramzipoor, Workflow contributor


Humans’ relationship to technology has come a long way since the command line.  

It’s come so far, in fact, that it can be hard to remember how inaccessible technology was up until relatively recent times. Command lines demanded precision and deep technical knowledge, making it challenging for the average person to get much done—assuming they could avoid the dreaded syntax error.  

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) introduced visual workflows—menus, buttons, and mouse clicks—making computing more accessible. The public unveiling of some of the earliest versions of these innovations was so seismic that it became known as “The Mother of All Demos.”  

Mobile interfaces revolutionized interaction again with touch, gestures, GPS, and cameras, enabling work to happen anywhere.

Each of these advancements has created a tectonic shift in how humans interact with technology, significantly shifting interaction paradigms, approachability and ease of use, and advancing how deeply technology is integrated in our day to day lives, says Amy Lokey, Chief Experience Officer at ServiceNow.  

And artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing some of the biggest changes to date, she says.

 “User expectations and their experience with technology is completely changing, thanks to AI,” says Lokey. “People expect a simpler, conversational experience, with generative, multi-modal and agentic capabilities, to sit on top of every application that they use. That’s the heart of an AI-first experience.”

IMPACT AI

Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2025 

There’s no doubt that AI is already transforming how people use technology in their daily lives. You can ask ChatGPT for advice on tough interpersonal problems or ping Gemini when you need a recipe for dinner. And AI agents, which can complete tasks autonomously with little human oversight, are poised to change things even more.

Now, people expect the same kinds of experiences in their work. The computer began as office equipment and became a household staple. AI is moving in the opposite direction; its power and simplicity of use at home is resetting people’s expectations for the systems they use at work. “Consumer behavior is starting to drive people’s expectations in the enterprise,” affirms Luke Wroblewski, managing director and head of product at Sutter Hill Ventures.

To put it simply, “people want to work in the same way they live,” Lokey says.

While consumers effortlessly command AI assistants to draft emails and plan vacations, all too often, office workers must battle antiquated enterprise software that demands multiple logins, operates in silos, and moves at a glacial pace.

“People are finding tremendous efficiencies in their consumer use of AI, and they expect those same productivity gains at work—and even more so because of the value they can derive from working more intelligently,” says Lokey. When they encounter clunky workflows and disconnected applications at the office, the contrast feels jarring—and increasingly unacceptable.

User expectations of their empowerment through AI are evolving just as quicky as the AI tools introduce new capabilities. On-the-job tasks that once required specialized knowledge—writing code, analyzing data, creating high-quality graphics and video—can now be executed by a layperson using natural language.  

 

Providing the same seamless, AI-powered experiences at work that people enjoy in their personal lives is crucial. Enterprises that embrace this imperative stand to reap productivity gains their competitors may struggle to match. They also stand to gain an important advantage in the war for AI-savvy talent. Employee empowerment through next-generation tools has become a strategic necessity.

The alternative is unappealing—to say the least.

"If your employees aren't adopting AI, and given access to the latest AI tools, you're going to fall behind,” says Lokey.

Though businesses are fighting to keep pace, it isn't just a matter of focusing on technology for technology’s sake. Under intense pressure to act fast, organizations that aren’t thoughtful about their employees’ needs and their business goals risk missing out on AI’s transformative potential or achieving broad employee adoption.

People will expect a simpler, conversational experience to sit on top of every application that they use. That’s the AI engagement layer,” says Lokey.

What’s the antidote? The data shows that companies taking a strategic approach to AI perform better than their competition. These companies start with a strong vision anchored in clear metrics and see higher gross margins than those that do not, according to ServiceNow’s 2025 Enterprise AI Maturity Index.

Many companies are attempting to bridge the consumer-employee divide by fundamentally rethinking their technology architecture. ServiceNow, for instance, has built an integrated platform designed from the ground up for AI integration—a single interface that connects and acts on external enterprise systems, with an AI layer orchestrating the experience.

This approach represents a departure from the traditional enterprise software model of bolt-on solutions and incremental upgrades. Instead of adding AI capabilities to existing systems, the platform treats AI as foundational infrastructure. This platform approach—leveraging a single codebase with built-in AI capabilities—has enabled businesses to knock down silos and scale strategically, according to the 2025 Enterprise AI Maturity Index.

By integrating AI into existing tools, organizations can create a better experience for employees, says Wroblewski. “It's better to bring the technology into a place where the employee is, where they already have context,” he says.

Critically, this philosophy emphasizes augmentation over automation. Rather than replacing human decision-making, AI agents function as sophisticated assistants. “They’re helpers rather than replacements; however, they do replace repetitive, process-driven, or analysis-heavy, manual work,” says Lokey. Users retain control and visibility into AI-driven processes, mitigating potential trust and transparency concerns.

AI-driven transformation requires a fundamental reconsideration of how organizations approach technology in the workplace. Like the rise of the personal computer, this is a moment that demands empathy and creativity. To understand what employees need, organizations need to think about how they navigate life—and work. “That means introducing new AI technology and capabilities that transform their effectiveness and productivity––seamlessly, intuitively, and within their flow of work,” Lokey says.

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Author

Evan Ramzipoor is a writer based in California.

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