Ownership matters when people lead AI-assisted everyday tasks
Ownership in AI-Assisted Everyday Tasks
Artificial IntelligenceHuman-Computer Interaction
Summary
This paper looks at when people still feel like the work they do with AI is really theirs. The authors find that people feel ownership when they actively guide or change the AI’s work, but less so when they just agree with what the AI suggests. People also keep ownership when they have the original idea, even if AI does much of the work. Losing a personal touch or not understanding the AI output can make people feel less connected to the work. Finally, whether people tell others they used AI often depends on social norms or worries about losing credit, not just pride in the work itself.
What this means in practice
- •For user experience designers: Design collaborative AI tools that empower users to lead and modify outputs, supporting their sense of ownership in everyday tasks.
- •For content creators: Create AI-assisted workflows that allow creators to maintain control and voice over their work, ensuring they feel authorship despite AI involvement.
Authors
Megan Wei, Melanie Subbiah, Audrey Lee, Annya Dahmani, Dave Edwards, Helen Edwards, Ellie Pavlick
Abstract
When does work done with AI still feel like ours? As AI becomes woven into everyday tasks, we must examine what happens to our sense of ownership and contribution when a machine shares in producing what we make. We report an exploratory qualitative survey in which participants were asked to describe two recent, self-selected tasks completed with AI: one that felt like their own and one that did not. We find that felt ownership depends on the process of collaboration: people disown work when they merely approve AI's suggestions, but retain ownership when they lead, iterate, or rewrite. Ownership can also extend to settings where people own the vision for a project but not the execution; respondents reported high ownership on tasks they could not have completed without AI. Loss of personal voice and a lack of comprehension of the output both erode ownership. Finally, willingness to disclose AI use is often decoupled from actual pride or ownership, and instead shaped by community norms and fear of credit erasure. We propose several research directions as a result of these findings to promote AI development that supports people's sense of authorship over their own lives.