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Agentic UX

Definition

Agentic UX is the discipline of designing user experiences for autonomous AI systems that plan and execute multi-step tasks with varying degrees of independence. While traditional AI UX focuses on single prompt-response interactions, agentic UX addresses the supervisory relationship between humans and AI agents that take actions over time, make decisions about next steps, and operate with real-world consequences.

The core challenge is unique: users must maintain meaningful oversight and control over a system that is designed to work independently. This creates a tension between the efficiency gains of autonomy and the human need for understanding, trust, and intervention capability. Agentic UX is the fastest-growing AI product category, with Figma's 2025 report showing twice as many users building agentic products compared to the prior year.

Why It Matters for Product Managers

The agentic AI wave represents the biggest UX paradigm shift since mobile. Products are moving from "AI that responds" to "AI that acts," and the UX patterns for this transition are still being established. Product managers who understand agentic UX can design experiences that earn user trust incrementally, build appropriate guardrails, and differentiate their products in a space where most competitors ship agents without adequate oversight interfaces.

Getting agentic UX wrong has outsized consequences. An agent that takes irreversible actions without proper confirmation flows, fails to communicate what it is doing, or provides no way to intervene can damage user trust catastrophically -- far worse than a chatbot that gives a bad answer.

How It Works in Practice

  • Design transparency surfaces -- Show what the agent is currently doing, what it plans to do next, and what it has already completed. A real-time activity feed or progress dashboard keeps users informed.
  • Create intervention points -- Build clear mechanisms to stop, redirect, undo, or roll back agent actions. These must be accessible without disrupting the agent's workflow when things are going well.
  • Build progress and confidence indicators -- Show how confident the agent is in its current approach, how far along the task is, and whether it has encountered any issues.
  • Design approval gates for high-stakes actions -- Require explicit human approval before the agent takes actions that are irreversible, costly, or visible to others.
  • Provide audit trails -- Let users review what the agent did after the fact, including its reasoning at each step and any decisions it made autonomously.

    • Common Pitfalls

  • No visibility into agent reasoning, leaving users unable to calibrate trust or catch errors until it is too late.
  • Missing kill switches -- users must always be able to stop an agent immediately, regardless of what state it is in.
  • All-or-nothing autonomy with no graduated control options. Users should be able to dial autonomy up or down based on the task and their comfort level.
  • No way to undo agent actions. If an agent can take an action, there should be a corresponding mechanism to reverse it.

    • Related Concepts

    Agentic UX is the design counterpart to Agentic AI, which describes the underlying technology. It is a specialized area within AI UX Design that draws on Human-AI Interaction research for its patterns. Guardrails provide the technical constraints that agentic UX makes visible and controllable for users, while the AI Copilot UX pattern represents a less autonomous alternative where the user stays in direct control.

    Related Terms

    Agentic AIHuman-AI InteractionAI UX DesignGuardrailsAI Copilot UX

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is agentic UX in product management?+
    Agentic UX is the design discipline focused on creating user experiences for autonomous AI agents -- systems that plan and execute multi-step tasks with minimal human input. Unlike traditional AI UX where users prompt and review, agentic UX must address how users monitor ongoing agent work, intervene when needed, understand what the agent is doing and why, and maintain appropriate control over autonomous processes.
    Why is agentic UX important for product teams?+
    As AI products move from single-turn responses to autonomous task completion, the UX challenge shifts from 'show me a good answer' to 'let me supervise and trust an ongoing process.' Product teams that do not invest in agentic UX will ship agents that users abandon because they cannot understand, trust, or control what the agent is doing. Good agentic UX is the difference between an agent that delights and one that terrifies.
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