Refactor Duo Chat disclaimer into empty state message
Context
We permanently sticky a legal disclaimer below the chat field. As the product matures, improving how we display the disclaimer provides a great opportunity for us to put our Iteration CREDIT value into action.
Why it's important
Chat interfaces are information-dense and interactions are repeated frequently. For this reason, redundant content hurts the product experience, esp. on smaller devices or in the IDE. For example, on a 16" Macbook the disclaimer currently takes up ~10% of the vertical space available in VS Code's Duo Chat.
Our competitors have moved towards providing their disclaimer as part of initial account signup or empty states. We should do the same unless we have a unique use case that sets us apart from everyone else.
Proposed solution
Proposal
We can meet the goal of informing the user and simplifying the UI by:
-
Rephrasing the disclaimer to:
Responses may be inaccurate. Verify before use. - Moving the disclaimer to become part of the empty state
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Rephrasing the existing empty state message to be more positive:
GitLab Duo Chat is your AI-powered assistant. -
Removing the redundant
Responses generated by AI.
Why:
- Duo Chat requires an account and license so they don't need to accept terms multiple times
- This allows us to provide better empty states for repeat uses
- This aligns with how competitors handle chat disclaimers
Mockup examples
| Current | Proposed |
|---|---|
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Future
- Improve phrasing to be more concise and reassure user that we don't train on their data.
- Use an empty state image that better represents an AI product.