When a UX experiment became the world’s default way to talk to AI
In this first episode of our new weekly segment Wish I Thought of That (WITOT), Hiba Ganta and I explore how chat became the interface for everything, and whether it should stay that way.
We talk about why ChatGPT’s text box was never meant to be the final form of AI interaction, and how a design experiment scaled into a global pattern that’s shaping everything from education tools to enterprise workflows.
From there, the conversation moves into how voice, visuals, and chat each change the way we think, and what that means for people building products today.
This episode is a reflection on product sense, human expectations, and the danger of forgetting what makes good design intuitive. It’s also about trust: the trust we place in interfaces, in data, and in ourselves when we work through new tools that can both empower and mislead.
The interface we choose doesn’t just change what we do, it changes how we think.
KEY THEMES
Chat as accident that scaled: how an early UX choice defined a generation of AI tools.
Voice vs. visuals: how each mode of interaction triggers a different kind of thinking.
Fact-checking the machine: designing for trust, not just output.
Product sense for everyone: why taste and intent matter more than ever.
Building with intent: avoiding homogenisation by grounding in human habits and values.
LINKS
Hiba on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hibaganta/
The Needful is Hiba’s newsletter on cultural intelligence for sharper, human-led product decisions. It is for indie founders and small teams who want clarity without the AI hype. Expect pragmatic, experience-grounded strategy, mental models, and cultural research that lift your team’s thinking. Hiba has led product, designs hands-on, and works on engagement and internal culture, so she reads features, stories, and signals in one go. Subscribe if you care about shipping with craft, protecting user trust, and keeping real judgment in the loop.
Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-horak/
Tom is the founder of All Shapes, a design and product studio working with founders, scale-ups and innovative enterprises to build meaningful digital tools that last. All Shapes focuses on products that blend craft, culture, and human clarity — helping teams move from early concepts to high-performing, values-aligned experiences.
Tom also hosts Changing Shapes, a podcast about how technology changes the way we design, create, and connect and how to build tools that stay human as they scale.
🧠 Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of culture, values, and technology.
🔗 Past episodes and articles available at tomhorak.substack.com.
