AI is the big battleground for brands. Business and marketing leaders across industries are eagerly exploring how AI technologies could help them better understand customers, automate processes and leap ahead of competitors. But in the rush to adopt AI, there is one critical consideration that is often overlooked: the user experience.

No matter how sophisticated your AI models are, if the interfaces for your customers and employees to interact with the AI are clunky, confusing or unreliable, you will struggle to reap the full benefits of the technology. Poor UX will be a drag on adoption, efficiency and, ultimately, ROI. AI should ultimately be about empowering people and for this to work, the interaction between humans and AI has to be better.

At Satalia, WPP’s AI technology company, there are three key questions we consider when thinking about how users will interact with an AI system.

Will users understand what the AI can do?

AI's capabilities need to be surfaced and communicated through the user interface. Users can only take advantage of the AI's skills if they are made aware of them. Look for AI solutions that make the technology's potential clear and accessible.

Apple's iOS 18.1 provides a great example of this principle in action. The new OS allows users to select text and access specific AI controls to modify it, such as "make longer" or "make more professional." Apple's contextual and intuitive integration of AI capabilities effectively demonstrates its potential to users, presenting the benefits of the technology clearly at the precise moment they are needed.

Can users control and refine the AI with ease?

AI left on full auto-pilot mode will produce frustratingly random results that users can't depend on. To make AI a consistently valuable tool, users need to be able to adjust and optimise the outputs to their specific needs.

This will be become even more important as AI-generated content and insights transition from an abundant free resource to a paid product. Current AI UX runs the risk of instilling unproductive habits by encouraging users to repeatedly generate content to achieve desired outputs. Interfaces will need to adapt as and when customers and employees begin to pay for AI outputs (directly or indirectly) and will expect the ability to save, modify, and manage their AI-generated content with care. AI platforms should enable users to capture that value and prioritise AI with robust user controls and generation management.

Will the AI integrate seamlessly into user workflows?

Context-driven AI integration is the key to unlocking efficiency and user adoption. By tailoring AI to specific tasks and understanding user intent, we can create interactions that feel intuitive and effortless, enhancing productivity within existing workflows. A distributed approach, where bite-sized AI functionalities are seamlessly integrated across multiple touchpoints, empowers users to leverage AI's assistance without disrupting their natural workflow, maximising the value they derive from AI.

For example, if a user is working on generating headlines for a mood board, they shouldn't have to keep entering the same prompt over and over for each new campaign. The AI should be aware of the task at hand and provide a simple, one-click solution to generate relevant headlines. By making the AI feel like a natural extension of the user's work, rather than a separate tool they have to keep invoking, businesses have a much better chance of driving higher engagement and productivity.

As businesses continue to invest in AI, it's crucial to remember that the technology's transformative potential hinges on the quality of the user experience. Business and marketing leaders must prioritise UX as a key pillar of their AI strategies, focusing on discoverability, user control and seamless workflow integration. By putting the user at the centre of AI development, brands can create AI-powered experiences that drive real engagement, efficiency and business value. The future belongs to companies that can wield AI not just as a cutting-edge technology, but as an intuitive, indispensable tool in the hands of their users.