What Makes an AI Writing Companion a Good Fit? A Personality-Informed Co-Design Study

TL;DR

This study explores how personality influences expectations and preferences for AI writing companions, demonstrating that aligning AI design with individual traits enhances collaboration and user engagement.

Contribution

It introduces a personality-informed co-design approach for AI writing tools, highlighting the importance of team matching in human-AI collaboration.

Findings

Shared foundational needs across diverse writers

Personality-driven preferences affect AI engagement

Aligning AI with user traits improves collaboration effectiveness

Abstract

The growing popularity of AI writing assistants creates exciting opportunities to support diverse writers. This study examines how personality shapes expectations for AI writing companions and how personality-informed design can enhance human-AI teaming in writing. Through exploratory co-design workshops with 24 writers representing different personality profiles, we elicited values and design ideas for AI writing companions spanning functionality, interaction dynamics, and visual representation. These insights informed two contrasting prototypes reflecting distinct writing orientations, used as design provocations in review-and-refinement workshops with eight participants to prompt reflection on fit, priorities, and writing practices. Our findings reveal both shared foundational needs across writers and meaningful personality-driven preferences that influence how writers engage with AI. This work underscores the importance of team matching in human-AI collaboration and demonstrates how aligning AI companions with individual cognitive and interpersonal needs can improve engagement and perceived collaboration effectiveness.