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2025 was the AI feature era. 2026 is the trust era. | by Yulia Lápicus | Jan, 2026 | Medium

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2025 was a rollercoaster for many of us, and not the fun kind. Over 240,000 tech workers got laid off. Junior designer roles essentially vanished, not just from budget cuts, but because AI could suddenly pump out decent-looking mockups in seconds. But here’s what really defined the year: we shipped AI features like our jobs depended on it. Chat panels bolted onto every dashboard. “Smart suggestions” nobody asked for. That cursed Google “Beautify this slide” button. Most of our design work became integration theater. We obsessed over pixel-perfect consistency while users were asking, “But what does this actually do?” We invented new UI patterns, crafted prompts, and desperately tried not to break existing mental models. We were still thinking in screens and flows — still building homes for the new AI features. That’s changing. 2026 is the year we stop asking “where does the AI button go?” and start asking “what work can we actually take off someone’s plate?” The shift is from building i

2025 was the AI feature era. 2026 is the trust era . From chat panels to control centers: UX patterns that will define AI in 2026. Yulia Lápicus 7 min read · Jan 12, 2026 -- Listen Share 2025 was a rollercoaster for many of us, and not the fun kind. Over 240,000 tech workers got laid off. Junior designer roles essentially vanished, not just from budget cuts, but because AI could suddenly pump out decent-looking mockups in seconds. But here’s what really defined the year: we shipped AI features like our jobs depended on it. Chat panels bolted onto every dashboard. “Smart suggestions” nobody ask

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