"About 70% of new installs of a Chrome extension I co-built never come back for a second session. The empty state is the single biggest reason. We rebuilt it three times. The version that performed worst was the one that looked most like every modern AI product."
"For most of UI history, the empty state was where designers spent their best work. Templates, sample data, a guided tour, a 60-second video, a CTA labeled “Start here.” Then AI products shipped. The empty state became a centered text field with placeholder copy that says “Ask me anything.” Every AI tool launched since 2023 ships a variation of the same blank prompt. We called this minimalism. It isn't minimalism. It is the absence of design."
"This is what most AI products show you on first open. The blinking cursor is supposed to be the affordance. It isn't one. Credit: Image by author, designed in Canva."
"The empty state, the screen a new user sees on first open, was historically the most over-designed surface in any software product. Linear, Notion, Figma, Airtable, Slack, Trello, Intercom, Asana all invested years in their first-run experiences. There was a reason. Don Norman established in The Design of Everyday Things that a well-designed object communicates its function"
Most AI products present a first-open experience dominated by a centered prompt box with a blinking cursor and placeholder text like “Ask me anything.” Empty states historically received extensive design effort through templates, sample data, guided tours, short videos, and clear calls to action. In contrast, AI tools launched since 2023 often ship variations of the same blank prompt, which removes guidance and design. High drop-off rates can result, including about 70% of new installs of a browser extension not returning for a second session. Rebuilding the empty state multiple times shows that the version resembling modern AI products performed worst, indicating that the absence of design reduces user continuation.
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