Who's Sense is This? Possibility for Impacting Human Insights in AI-assisted Sensemaking

TL;DR

This paper explores the impact of AI-generated insights on human sensemaking processes, emphasizing the importance of understanding how premature AI insights influence collaborative decision-making.

Contribution

It raises critical questions about AI-assisted sensemaking and discusses potential reasons users may rely on AI insights prematurely, highlighting the need for careful integration.

Findings

AI can present premature insights during early sensemaking stages

Users may be influenced by AI insights before their understanding is complete

The paper identifies key questions for effective AI integration in sensemaking

Abstract

Sensemaking is an important preceding step for activities like consensus building and decision-making. When groups of people make sense of large amounts of information, their understanding gradually evolves from vague to clear. During this process when reaching a conclusion is still premature, if people are presented with others' insights, they may be directed to focus on that specific perspective without adequate verification. We argue that similar phenomena may also exist in AI-assisted sensemaking, in which AI will usually be the one that presents insight prematurely when users' understandings are still vague and ill-formed. In this paper, we raised three questions that are worth deliberation before exploiting AI to assist in collaborative sensemaking in practice, and discussed possible reasons that may lead users to opt for insights from AI.