Your AI is powerful. But will your mom use it?

A friend sent me a deck for an AI start-up that is raising their seed. The concept is cool, and their tech is fancy. Yet, it’s clear they aren’t thinking about how or if their mom will use what they are building.

As an operator and angel investor, an ever-increasing amount of AI startups cross my desk. They all have great tech. But to state the obvious: having powerful models isn't that special anymore - it's now expected. What sets winners apart is how they shape and package that tech. UX > models.

Who is doing this well?

Here’s a non-comprehensive list of experiences that are doing it right:

📓 Google NotebookLM:

Their tool feels as natural as cross-referencing your notes. Watch the above TikTok video (with 15 million views!) to see how good, easy-to-use UX will promote itself! Are people talking about your product in this way? If not, what could you do to make them share it more?

🦉 Duolingo’s video call with Lily:

Duolingo is bringing voice chat to life in a creative, character-driven way. Video call with Lily helps you practice the language you’re learning and feels much more intuitive than practicing a language cold in ChatGPT. (Note: I work at Duolingo; I’m biased 🙃)

👯 Claude:

While ChatGPT is crushing it on voice chat, Claude’s text responses are better. Their brand (light, airy, fresh) and their tone make it feel like chatting with your brilliant best friend. I often turn to Claude for writing and things that need more nuance because I trust it more and think it does better with tone. Watch it tone police me below 🤯

Love to be told I’m being unprofessional (I was being unprofessional)

🪩 Remix AI:

Making AI image generation social, creative, and fun. Remix was the first mover to try to make generative AI social. Their UX is straightforward to use and fun - try it! (Note: I invested in Remix; I’m biased 🙃)

🔎 Cursor:

Writing code in plain English. I’ve been watching a product manager at Duolingo code a prototype using Cursor, and it’s been blowing my mind because they don’t code (or didn’t use to!).

Why are these products doing well? They are all well-used and sticky because they are AS intuitive as their tech is powerful.

💡 Here’s what you should do

If you’re building in the AI space right now, make sure you:

1. Match your UX investment to your model investment

2. Make it as intuitive as it is powerful

3. Solve real-world nuisances, not just technical ones

4. Build for humans, not engineers

5. Read this book and call your mom 🥰

Read this classic and ask your mom about what you’re building

To wrap

Better models won't decide the next wave of AI winners. Better experiences'll decide them.

What other AI products have you noticed that are doing interesting things with their UX? 👇