Zero UI: The invisible interface revolution

The new threshold in digital engagement

Let’s begin with a bold, but necessary premise...

The centrality of the website and the linear nature of brand discovery (in its current format) are in rapid decline and are being replaced by something new.

We’ve entered a new era—where AI agents, ambient systems, and conversations shape what people discover, how they decide, and who they trust.

This shift ushers in a transformation in how we build brands for an emerging zero UI era. As this technology advances, customer journeys are fundamentally transforming. The internet is no longer confined to a screen—it’s becoming integrated into everyday life in real time.

“Nearly 80% of consumers rely on zero-click search results for at least 40% of their queries.”
Source: Bain & Company, 2025¹

At the heart of this shift is the rapid maturation of generative AI. Up until recently, what began as a powerful tool for content creation has now evolved into something even more transformative: a foundational technology that enables systems to understand human intent, hold contextual memory, and deliver truly personalized outcomes through natural interaction.

This is not a distant phenomenon; it is here now, and marketeers must respond. The vital role of the brand will remain crucial as a decision-making shorthand, and the place of marketers will continue to be as critical as ever. But make no mistake, the nature of discovery is undergoing a seismic transformation.

Let’s investigate this shift and how you can prepare for the transformation of engagement happening now.

Brand agents and the rise of intelligent presence

Brand agents are a critical component of making this a reality. Agents are AI-driven interfaces that can engage in conversation, anticipate needs, and take action across digital environments. They exist in many forms—embedded in branded websites, chat platforms, voice assistants, mobile apps, and soon, the operating systems of our everyday lives. 

Think of them as intelligent brand representatives: always on, deeply contextual, and able to make sense of customer goals in real time. Today, some of the most visible expressions of brand agents are copilots and advanced chatbots.

These tools—like Microsoft Copilot—offer a glimpse into how AI can go beyond answering questions to actually shaping decision journeys. They engage users in natural language, retrieve relevant data, and complete tasks all in one fluid interaction. As these experiences evolve, they’re becoming less about chatting and more about orchestrating: acting across systems, remembering context, and resolving intent.

Unlike traditional UIs, these agents don’t rely on users to click, scroll, or navigate. Instead, they respond to spoken prompts, behavioral signals, external stimulus, and predictive cues. They can compress long, multi-step journeys into single exchanges. They resolve needs the instant they arise or, at times, even before people realize they have them.

“By 2028, 70% of customer journeys will occur entirely through AI-driven conversational interfaces.”
Source: Gartner, 2024²

Let’s be clear: This isn't the end of the website.

Instead, the traditional, click-driven site with fixed navigational structures is giving way to a new conversational, interactive-led experience. It’s like going from simply flipping through a brochure to stepping into an immersive flagship showroom—available anytime, anywhere.

This transition is what we are calling the Race to Zero UI.

The race to zero UI

Zero UI is a design approach where the interface fades into the background. Interactions become so seamless and intuitive that users may barely notice any interface at all. Instead of an architecture of screens and buttons, people engage through natural inputs like voice, gestures, sensors, and automation.

Rather than thinking only in terms of screen-based interactions, user experiences must be designed to span across screens, voice interfaces, ambient devices, and predictive systems. Brands must now earn preference not just with people, but also with the agents acting on their behalf.

If brands don’t evolve their practices to support this transition, they will increasingly be challenged with discoverability. The future won’t be won by more, or better UI... but by better intelligence. It’s about building systems that facilitate your ability to show up in this ambient future when it matters. In a zero-UI world, presence beats pixels. The brands that win will be those that design for attention, trust, and action, not just aesthetics.

Copilots and conversational interfaces are already accelerating this shift—teaching users to expect assistance that feels human, instant, and helpful. As these copilots become smarter and more agentic, they are effectively training the next generation of consumer behavior. This transformation has huge implications for how marketers evolve their role. Strategically, discovery, engagement, and loyalty are no longer only screen-based. They’re system-driven. To stay ahead, brands must become trustworthy, readable by, and useful to the agents acting on behalf of their customers.

These roles are going to become more important than ever in building these systems effectively.

The funnel collapse: anticipation is taking its place

The natural outcome of this is that the traditional customer journey—the funnel we once mapped with precision—is breaking down. In its place is something faster, flatter, and far more fluid.

Today, users don’t move step-by-step from awareness to conversion. They start with a signal: “I need hiking shoes,” “I forgot my anniversary,” “I need to rebook my flight.” And then, they expect a system to do the rest. This is the new model of engagement: compressed, conversational, and outcome-driven.

In this world, discovery doesn’t begin with a click. It begins with a conversation. The conversation might happen with a chatbot, voice assistant, or personal agent that understands context, interprets intent, and makes decisions on the user’s behalf. The role of the agent is to understand context, interprets intent, and makes decisions on the user’s behalf.

This raises a valid tension, especially when considering traditional advertising models, where reach and frequency build awareness and preference over time. But this isn’t about abandoning those strategies; it’s about evolving them. In a systems-led world, awareness is now contextual. Brand awareness is still critical as a way for users to navigate choice in a complex world, but now, what matters is what is retrievable. Brands must stay relevant by ensuring their content, values, and signals are structured in a way that agents can recognize, trust, and surface in response to a user needs.

Because generative AI and agentic technologies have transformed marketing from reactive to proactive, from funnel-based to moment-based experiences, the call to brands is to transition to this new reality to maintain brand awareness in this new technological landscape.

“The rise of AI referral has major implications for marketing and sales teams. Companies that don’t optimize their approach for AI agents’ new role in many steps of the funnel have already started to lose potential customers.”
Source: Bain & Company³

For marketers, success is no longer about guiding a linear path. It’s about building infrastructure that can anticipate, resolve, and respond instantly. The brands that win will be those that meet demand before it’s expressed and deliver value before being asked.

Trust starts at the foundation

In a zero UI world, trust is not a brand value, it’s a system requirement. When agents act on behalf of users, they rely on a complex web of signals to determine what brands are safe, reliable, and worth surfacing. That trust isn’t won with a headline. It must be built layer by layer...

1. The foundation is clean data. If the information a system draws from is flawed, biased, or incomplete, even the most advanced AI can’t make responsible decisions. Trust begins with integrity at the input level.

2. You need to layer in ethical frameworks. The rules and logic that govern how systems are used and behave include transparency, safety, and fairness in alignment with user expectations. These are no longer technical considerations, they’re trust thresholds.

3. Emotional intelligence completes the structure. Once the system is secure and accountable, it must be able to understand people: their context, tone, and needs in real time. Because even the most rational system can’t earn trust if it lacks empathy, and not all LLMs are the same.

“AI is the data, and data makes the AI”
Source: Cathy Mauzaize, ServiceNow, 2025⁴

These layers reinforce each other. You can’t design ethically if the data is broken. You can’t build empathy into systems you can’t explain. And you can’t expect people to trust what doesn’t understand them.

4 ways to stay visible in a world of invisible interfaces

The invisible interface revolution is more than just a tech trend; it’s a profound restructuring of how customers experience products and services. It promises amazing convenience and personalization—and raises the stakes for marketers.

“IDC predicts 60% of user interactions will happen via invisible, AI-driven interfaces by 2027.”
Source: Gartner, 2024⁵

If your brand isn’t prepared to operate in an AI-first, ambient ecosystem, you risk losing engagement with your audience. So how can marketers start gearing up now? Here are four steps to stay ahead:

1. Design for agents and users
   Agentic systems will increasingly become the gatekeeper of customer experience. If your content, product data, and brand signals aren’t structured for machine interpretation, you’ll be invisible to part of the user journey. Prioritize machine-readable formats, structured metadata, and API accessibility to ensure your brand is discoverable and actionable by AI agents.
2. Build systems, Not tactics
   One-off activations won’t survive in an always-on, agent-mediated world. Marketers must create adaptive ecosystems—integrated content, commerce, and data infrastructures that respond in real time to agent queries and user intent. Think platforms, not promotions.
3. Deliver value invisibly
   In the invisible interface world, presence is earned through anticipation, not traditional visibility. Brands must embed themselves into the flow of customer needs, surfacing only when relevant and resolving friction before it’s felt. The most valuable experiences will be the ones that feel effortless.
4. Optimize for presence, not page views
   Traditional metrics like clicks and impressions are relics. Success now hinges on relevance and resolution: Did your brand show up when it mattered? Did it help the agent fulfil the user’s intent? Redefine your KPIs around assistive value, not just attention capture.

Defining the next era of engagement

As the role of the interfaces transforms to support this shift, the marketer’s role becomes more vital, not less. Marketers will shape how brands build trust, show up in moments that matter, and create value not through visibility, but through meaningful presence.

The path forward isn’t about keeping up with technology for its own sake. It’s about building with AI to create experiences that are useful, trusted, and anticipatory—delivering clarity in a noisy world. The systems we design today will define how customers connect tomorrow.

The opportunity is immense. We are entering an era where creativity, empathy, and human insight are amplified by machine intelligence... where marketers shift from managing clicks to designing systems that serve... where engagement isn’t chased, it’s earned.

The race to zero UI isn’t just a UX shift. It requires a new strategic vision. The brands and marketers that lean in now won’t just survive the invisible interface era. They’ll define it.

This is your moment to lead.