MetaCues: Enabling Critical Engagement with Generative AI for Information Seeking and Sensemaking

TL;DR

MetaCues is an interactive tool that enhances critical engagement with generative AI during information seeking by providing metacognitive cues, leading to broader inquiry and increased confidence in judgments.

Contribution

It introduces MetaCues, a novel AI-assisted search tool that integrates metacognitive prompts and note-taking to improve user engagement and critical thinking.

Findings

MetaCues increases user confidence in judgments.

MetaCues promotes broader inquiry, especially on less familiar topics.

Users engaged more critically with AI responses using MetaCues.

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) search tools are increasingly used for information seeking, yet their design tends to encourage cognitive offloading, which may lead to passive engagement, selective attention, and informational homogenization. Effective use requires metacognitive engagement to craft good prompts, verify AI outputs, and critically engage with information. We developed MetaCues, a novel GenAI-based interactive tool for information seeking that delivers metacognitive cues alongside AI responses and a note-taking interface to guide users' search and associated learning. Through an online study (N = 146), we compared MetaCues to a baseline tool without cues, across two broad search topics that required participants to explore diverse perspectives in order to make informed judgments. Preliminary findings regarding participants' search behavior show that MetaCues leads to increased confidence in attitudinal judgments about the search topic as well as broader inquiry, with the latter effect emerging primarily for the topic that was less controversial and with which participants had relatively less familiarity. Accordingly, we outline directions for future qualitative exploration of search interactions and inquiry patterns.