Building the Next Interface — Tony Casparro, OpenAI
About the episode
Have the basic requirements for building a good user experience actually changed?
In this episode of Futureproof, Xano CEO Prakash Chandran sits down with Tony Casparro, senior staff software engineer at OpenAI, to talk about his current work on ChatGPT. Tony shares some of the past user experience lessons he learned at Netflix, and how they can be translated into an AI world. Together, they cover how to get the most out of AI (and what not to do with it), some of ChatGPT’s critical UX features (deep thinking, pivot points, third-party app support), and the way in which AI is changing how we interact with software.
Topics covered include:
- From streaming to chat: What Netflix taught Tony about usability, accessibility, and anticipating human behavior.
- AI as a design partner, not a design maker: The best results come from working with AI, not outsourcing thought to it.
- The rise of contextual interfaces: ChatGPT’s new third-party apps are changing how users interact with brands and information.
- Cognitive offloading with care: How to delegate tasks to AI while keeping your creative and critical skills sharp.
Chapters
00:00
Meet Tony Casparro
Tony shares his career journey from Cisco and Amgen to Netflix and now OpenAI, shaping experiences for global users.
02:30
Streaming Lessons from Netflix
How Netflix pioneered user education for a new paradigm — and why understanding behavior remains critical in AI.
06:00
Designing for Billions
ChatGPT as a universal interface: serving users of all ages and backgrounds through intuitive design and contextual cues.
09:30
Deep Research Mode
How OpenAI balances speed and depth in user expectations, and why patience still matters in an instant world.
13:30
How Engineers Use AI
Tony walks through how he uses AI coding assistants like Codex to parallelize his workflow and accelerate problem-solving.
17:00
Where AI Still Struggles
Why front-end design and animation remain uniquely human — and how orchestration improves model reasoning.
20:30
Coding with Context
Using AI with access to your codebase for smarter augmentation and cleaner collaboration between product managers and devs.
24:30
The End of App Stores?
ChatGPT’s new third-party apps point toward a future where software is summoned, not downloaded.
27:30
Ephemeral Software
How purpose-built, short-lived tools could become a new model for education, prototyping, and user engagement.
30:30
AI and Literacy
Why co-creating with AI enhances understanding — but over-reliance risks dulling critical thinking.
34:00
Designing Future Interfaces
How to futureproof your UI/UX by anticipating natural language and multi-agent interaction.
37:30
Commerce Comes to ChatGPT
Behind the scenes of integrating checkout and third-party apps directly inside ChatGPT.
40:00
Give AI a Chance
Tony’s closing advice: try it, test it, and find your balance between delegation and discovery.
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