Developers with ADHD find AI copresence eases social pressure
Two's a Crowd: Human and AI-Based Copresence for Developers with ADHD
Human-Computer InteractionSoftware Engineering
Summary
Developers with ADHD often rely on working close to others to help them stay focused and motivated. The authors studied how these developers use both human partners and AI tools while coding. They found that working with people can be helpful but also causes stress from being watched or judged. Using AI companions helps these developers keep on track without feeling anxious or exposed. The authors suggest new ideas to design AI tools that better support collaboration for developers with ADHD.
What this means in practice
- •For software development teams: Design AI-based collaboration tools that help developers with ADHD maintain focus without social anxiety.
- •For productivity tool designers: Create AI assistants that provide social accountability while respecting privacy to support diverse developer needs.
Authors
Veronica Pimenova, Seth Bernstein, Shalini Madan, Dhruv Jain, Venkatesh Potluri
Abstract
Effective collaboration and communication are vital to developer productivity and well-being, yet remain constrained by human factors such as attention, intrinsic motivation, and interpersonal accountability. These constraints are particularly vital for developers identifying with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), who navigate persistent environmental barriers in modern hybrid workplace settings. While developers with ADHD frequently rely on collaborative copresence practices (such as body doubling or pair programming) to support executive function, the recent emergence of agentic AI coding assistants has begun reshaping these collaborative dynamics. To investigate how developers with ADHD engage in human and AI-based copresence practices, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 software engineers with ADHD. Our findings reveal that while traditional human-human copresence provides critical social support and onboarding structure, it forces developers to constantly manage professional reputation and sacrifice personal privacy. Conversely, developers leverage emerging human-AI copresence to maintain accountability and cognitive flow without the social anxiety, performance judgment, or surveillance associated with human observation. Based on these empirical insights, we map developer copresence practices onto core dimensions of Goffman's copresence theory and Forsgren et al.'s SPACE framework of developer productivity, and provide design recommendations for AI-based tools that promote inclusive collaboration for developers with ADHD.