Thinking past the cliche of LLM’s AI design patterns

Nowadays, each time I see AI tools I often see a copy of OpenAI’s UX framework — sidebar on the left and chat in the center right. I love patterns, but for God’s sake, can we start acting like Product Designers again?

Horizon AI is one of the free interface you can get without even thinking about UI

Let me explain myself.

I understand the need to use patterns and normalize design, and I don’t know if anyone in 2025 will be still designing sign-in / sign-up pages from the ground up.

I am not talking about reinventing the wheel. Still, I use different target group’s mental models to build “familiar” designs for them, for example — if my target group has a lot of experience working with Microsoft tools — I will design something for them that would fit what they imagine a “good” design looks like, even if I am not a huge fan of the Microsoft ecosystem.

I am a Product Designer, I want to explore new ways of working technology. I am not a designer who works from 9 to 5 and suddenly stops thinking about the digital world that surrounds me — I love to explore new opportunities — and that's why I am so disappointed with the experiences we have with different AI Tools so far — they are repetitive and each new tool try to duplicate previous one.

First, let's start with some exceptions on the market that inspired me to do something “new” and fresh and think about user tasks instead of blindly replicating others' UI.

Perplexity

They were the first company that tried to disrupt how we search for information. They morphed the Google Search experience with AI and explored the world where you get “better” results thanks to AI in response to naturally formed questions. It’s great that they now have a strong community, and I hope they will show us more in the future; although there is still a lot to do, especially for showing sources, it’s already one of the best AI tools I use every day.

Perplexity interface

The Arc Browser