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Agentic AI Pushes UX Beyond Prompts Toward Trust, Consent, And Accountability

A new Smashing Magazine piece argues that as AI systems take multi-step actions on a user’s behalf, UX research has to evaluate autonomy, permissions, and responsibility — not just interface usability.

Today, Smashing Magazine published a UX-focused rundown of “agentic AI” and what it changes for product design and research.

  • The article is written by Victor Yocco, PhD (UX researcher/research director) and frames agentic systems as software that can set a goal, assemble a step-by-step plan, use tools to act, and continue working over time rather than stopping after a single response.
  • It draws a line between agentic AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA): RPA follows predetermined rules, while an agent can determine the next action based on reasoning about the goal and context.
  • One scenario described is calendar conflict resolution where an agent can check attendees’ availability, propose alternatives, send updates to internal and external participants, and keep iterating until the meeting is successfully rescheduled.
  • The piece proposes four autonomy “modes” for agents and says the levels were adapted from SAE driving-automation levels, emphasizing that teams may allow higher autonomy in some tasks (like scheduling) but restrict it in others (like finance).
  • The research focus shifts toward evaluating trust, consent, and accountability when systems act on users’ behalf.