Designing for AI isn't just about making things smarter—it's about making them usable. We learned this firsthand when creating Rescue Writer for PetSmart Charities, an award-winning AI innovation that helps animal shelters write better pet adoption profiles. Through this and other AI projects, we've seen how AI introduces unpredictable outputs, endless variations, and new ways to interact.

Instead of fixed, rule-based interfaces, we're shifting to more fluid, open-ended experiences. To make AI-powered products intuitive, flexible, and useful, we've defined four UX principles for designing AI-assisted products.

#1 - Embrace Uncertainty

AI doesn’t always have a single, perfect answer. It generates probabilistic outputs, meaning responses can vary in accuracy and completeness.

Instead of hiding uncertainty, good AI interfaces acknowledge and communicate it through confidence levels, multiple options, and clarifying questions.

Embracing uncertainty builds trust by setting realistic expectations and letting people make informed decisions.

Sometimes “probably right” is exactly right.

#2 - Enable Remixing

AI can generate content at scale, but users need flexibility to refine, combine, and iterate.

By enabling remixes, we treat AI outputs as starting points, not final answers. Design for easy tweaking—whether it’s adjusting tone, rewording copy, or remixing visuals.

By making it easy to iterate, we make the product better and users can refine AI-generated content to fit their needs.

The AI’s first output is your rough draft.

#3 - Adapt to Input & Output Diversity

AI can process and generate content in multiple forms—from different writing styles to various media types (text, voice, images, code, and presentation slides). The key is matching the right input and output to each situation.

Adaptability allows people to input and receive information in whatever form feels most natural at the moment.

By embracing multi-modal flexibility, we cut down on mental effort and make interactions feel more useful.

An image might be worth a thousand words of input, while a voice response might be better than text for output.

#4 - Encourage Fluidity

When AI starts working its magic, it can feel like we’re losing control over the work.

Address this by giving users transparent and adjustable AI assistance. Make it clear what AI is doing and why—allowing them to fine-tune how much or how little automation they want.

Making the magic adjustable will increase confidence in the tool, and it ensures users remain in control of their experience.

Let users turn the AI dial up or down.

Principles in Action: Rescue Writer.ai

Here's how Rescue Writer brings our principles to life:

Embrace Uncertainty: Rather than presenting the AI-generated bio as perfect, Rescue Writer displays a friendly disclaimer: 'Our AI occasionally gets the zoomies making it a little too creative. Feel free to tweak.' This honest approach helps users trust the system and feel comfortable making changes.

Enable Remixing: The generated pet bio appears in an editable text field, complete with a character counter. This design choice encourages shelter workers to refine the AI's work, adjusting the tone and details to better match each pet's unique personality. The editable format acknowledges that shelter workers know their animals best.

Adapt to Input & Output Diversity: Rescue Writer demonstrates output diversity through its narrative voice options. Users can choose to generate content 'From the Pet' (first-person perspective) or 'From You' (caretaker perspective), and adjust the tone to be 'Comedic' or more straightforward. This flexibility in output formats allows shelter workers to match their communication style to their intended audience—whether that's a family looking for a playful companion or someone seeking a more mature pet—showing how even simple perspective shifts can make AI-generated content more versatile and engaging.

Encourage Fluidity: The simple 'copy your pet profile' link below gives users complete control over the final text. Once copied, they can move it to their preferred platform, whether that's their shelter's website, social media, or Google Docs. This feature ensures the AI remains a helpful assistant and no more.

By applying these principles, Rescue Writer transforms what could be a mundane task into an intuitive, collaborative process between AI and shelter staff. The result? Over 150,000 pet bios generated by Rescue Writer, significantly reduced time spent on profile creation, and thousands more happy pets with new families.

Make AI Work with People, Not Just for Them

AI should work with people, not just for them. When we design for uncertainty, remixing, diverse inputs, and fluid control, AI becomes an enabler rather than a black box.

By applying these principles, we turn AI-powered interfaces into collaborative tools—ones that adapt, empower, and ultimately make digital experiences more human.

Ready to transform fixed interfaces into flexible, AI-powered experiences?