Who Gets to Interpret the Workout? User Tensions with AI-Generated Fitness Feedback

TL;DR

This study examines user reactions to AI-generated fitness feedback on Strava, revealing tensions between AI interpretations and athletes' personal experiences, with implications for designing user-centered AI self-tracking tools.

Contribution

It provides an empirical analysis of user tensions with AI fitness feedback, highlighting challenges in balancing AI support and user agency in self-tracking platforms.

Findings

Users resist AI feedback that limits personal interpretation.

Four key tensions identified in user responses.

Insights inform design of AI tools that support user agency.

Abstract

Fitness tracking platforms increasingly integrate generative AI to interpret activity data, such as Strava's Athlete Intelligence. These integrations raise questions about how athletes engage with AI-supported fitness self-tracking. We analyzed 297 Reddit threads and 5,692 comments from r/Strava following the company's launch of AI features to examine user reactions to AI-generated fitness feedback. Our findings revealed four recurring tensions: (1) numerical evaluation versus contextual understanding; (2) isolated session summaries versus ongoing training narratives; (3) a fixed AI tone versus diverse emotional states; and (4) a single AI voice versus different athletic types. Across these tensions, users resisted AI feedback that constrained interpretations of their own lived experiences. These findings shed light on the implicit challenges of integrating AI into self-tracking platforms. We conclude with implications for the design of AI-supported self-tracking systems that preserve interpretive openness and user agency.