Perfectly valid question. I remember Ubuntu getting lost down a rabbit hole of their touch screen desktop wm that had soo many warts. I guess if you don't have the power to steer a project you fork or try something else. Then realise you neither have the UI chops or technical finesse to pull something off. Windows has been atrocious UI wise since Win 8, failed to pull anything off cohesively and just left a mess. Much like Ubuntu, but with what you would expect a well funded dedicated UI team.

UIs generally sick in Linux with the exception of the shell. And even that could be sexed up hugely.

The best thing about AI tools for me is that they make up for shortcomings in the UI and have become a very important go-between for me.