Understanding User Perceptions, Collaborative Experience and User Engagement in Different Human-AI Interaction Designs for Co-Creative Systems

TL;DR

This study investigates how AI-to-human communication in co-creative systems enhances user engagement, perception, and collaboration, demonstrating that interactive communication improves the experience and perceived AI qualities.

Contribution

The paper introduces and evaluates two interaction designs for co-creative systems, highlighting the positive impact of AI-to-human communication on user experience and perception.

Findings

Improved collaborative experience with AI communication

Increased user engagement when AI communicates

Users perceive AI as more reliable and intelligent with communication

Abstract

Human-AI co-creativity involves humans and AI collaborating on a shared creative product as partners. In a creative collaboration, communication is an essential component among collaborators. In many existing co-creative systems users can communicate with the AI, usually using buttons or sliders. Typically, the AI in co-creative systems cannot communicate back to humans, limiting their potential to be perceived as partners rather than just a tool. This paper presents a study with 38 participants to explore the impact of two interaction designs, with and without AI-to-human communication, on user engagement, collaborative experience and user perception of a co-creative AI. The study involves user interaction with two prototypes of a co-creative system that contributes sketches as design inspirations during a design task. The results show improved collaborative experience and user engagement with the system incorporating AI-to-human communication. Users perceive co-creative AI as more reliable, personal, and intelligent when the AI communicates to users. The findings can be used to design effective co-creative systems, and the insights can be transferred to other fields involving human-AI interaction and collaboration.