User research: people don't want personal agents to automate everything — the process is the point
sebpaquet · x · 2026-10-02
A developer prototyping personal agents shares findings from user interviews: people don't actually want agents to do everything for them.
Key takeaways:
- Users still enjoy browsing, comparing, and choosing — the experience of doing something is part of the satisfaction
- Silicon Valley's productivity-first "remove all friction" mindset doesn't map to B2C; not every friction is a problem
- A useful contrarian signal for personal-agent product design: assist, don't replace
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