Double click: Human Takes on Agentic AI | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Agentic AI could fundamentally change UX by handling tasks across apps with minimal supervision, reducing the need for users to navigate complex interfaces. Supporters see agents as a new abstraction layer that lets people focus on goals rather than buttons, menus, and tabs. However, the shift also raises concerns about designing for machines at the expense of human creativity, agency, and meaningful interaction.

The Promise of Agentic AI

• Agents can take routine work off users’ plates, such as paying bills or completing multistep tasks.
• Perplexity’s Henry Modisett argues that AI should be “how something works,” not necessarily what users directly interact with.
• The ideal experience resembles starting a car: users specify where they want to go without needing to understand the machinery underneath.
• Agentic systems may reduce the cognitive load associated with chatbots, personalities, and complicated interfaces.

Agents as a New Web Abstraction

• Agents could operate across platforms, creating a more interoperable web that works more like human workflows.
• They may reduce the need to navigate menus, manage open tabs, or repeatedly switch between applications.
• Rather than one all-purpose AI, the future may involve specialized agents collaborating like a team.
• This could shift users’ attention from browsing and operating software toward creating, connecting, and pursuing goals.

Designing Websites for Machines

• Maintaining and optimizing websites for AI agents could become a distinct industry.
• Websites may increasingly prioritize:
  • Clean APIs
  • Machine-readable content
  • Clear structure
  • Streamlined navigation
• Visual polish, animations, and pixel-perfect layouts may matter less to agents than accessibility and functional interoperability.
• Designers and developers must consider whether they are primarily building for humans, machines, or both.

Preserving Human Creativity

• Optimizing exclusively for AI could flatten the web and remove creativity, depth, and intentional visual experiences.
• The growth of agentic systems arrives alongside renewed interest in:
  • Creative coding
  • Handcrafted websites
  • Experiences that move beyond templates
• The industry has an opportunity to decide which tedious work to automate while preserving the aspects of the web that feel expressive and distinctly human.

The Value of Friction and User Control

• Traditional UX often treats friction as something to eliminate, but autonomous agents complicate that principle.
• Users need deliberate moments to:
  • Review an agent’s proposed action
  • Approve consequential changes
  • Correct mistakes
  • Stay aware of what the system is doing
• Carefully reintroduced friction can preserve agency and trust, even when the agent performs most of the work.
• Good agentic design may therefore prioritize appropriate checkpoints over completely invisible automation.

Agentic AI is still in its early stages, but it is likely to reshape both web infrastructure and interface design. The strongest approach is to automate complexity while preserving human oversight, creativity, and opportunities for meaningful participation.