Why do AI tools often leave users unsure what they can do?

Look at most AI products today and you'll see the same thing: an empty text field with a question like "What can I help with?" or "Ask anything..." I've even turned this into a running joke. When a financial company adds AI: "What do you want to bank?" Silly, I know, but it gets at the problem. An open question doesn't tell you anything about what's actually possible.

We've been here before. Open-ended interfaces to AI models have the same problem as every "invisible" interface that came before them. Without a clear set of affordances (visual cues that suggest what you can do), people don't know what they can do. The pitch for voice assistants was "you can ask them anything." Today it's "you can tell AI to do anything." Sounds great, but...

Even extremely capable systems (like extremely capable people) have limitations. They do some things well, some things ok, and other things poorly. How you ask matters too, since different phrasings yield different results. So you've got a tool that's great at some tasks, mediocre at others, sensitive to wording, and gives you zero visible guideposts for any of it. That's why I'm pretty certain capability awareness is the biggest problem in AI product interfaces today.

And it gets worse as products get more powerful. In Bench, our AI workspace for everyday work, it can search the Web, browse as you, generate reports, make PowerPoint, use your email, and lots more. The problem is... that's a lot. More capability behind the same empty box means more for people to discover on their own.

So what helps? A few things we've tried. Instead of asking, instruct: Bench starts with "Describe the task you want Bench to do...", which still captures broad intent but nudges people toward useful input. We also asked people their role at work and showed suggested prompts for it, so Sales folks would see things like "research a prospect" or "prep for a sales meeting." And you can let the AI model rewrite and optimize people's initial prompts for better outcomes.

Put simply, an empty text field is a blank check nobody knows how to fill out. Give people a few examples of what to write on it.