Generative AI helps game creators collaborate but raises trust concerns
Generative AI as a Mediator in Creator Collaboration: Challenges, Design Opportunities, and Concerns
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
When different creative experts work together, it can be hard for them to understand each other fully. The authors studied how generative AI can help writers and artists make games by acting as a go-between that aligns their ideas and reduces conflicts. However, they found that AI might also cause people to talk less, trust each other less, and change how they work together. The authors suggest ways AI tools can support teamwork without hurting creativity or trust.
What this means in practice
- •For game development teams: Use generative AI tools to mediate communication between writers and designers to improve shared understanding and reduce creative conflicts.
- •For creative agencies: Design AI-powered collaboration software that helps diverse creative professionals align their goals while preserving trust and open communication.$Commercial implications: Enables creation of AI-driven teamwork platforms sold to agencies to enhance multi-disciplinary project outcomes.
Authors
Hajun Kim, Jini Kim, Yunjae Josephine Choi
Abstract
As Generative AI (GenAI) expands beyond individual workflows and becomes increasingly integrated intocollaborative creative work, its potential to address the fundamental challenge of building common groundamong creators with diverse expertise remains underexplored. Specifically, we lack empirical understandingof how GenAI can mediate collaboration asymmetries among heterogeneous creators. To address this gap,we conducted a multi-method study with narrative writers (N = 10) and visual designers (N = 10) in thecontext of game development. Our findings demonstrate that GenAI goes beyond individual assistance toserve as a collaborative mediator by aligning creative intent, sustaining shared understanding, and mitigatinginterpersonal friction among creators. At the same time, we highlight concerns that GenAI may reducecommunication among creators, undermine mutual trust, and reshape interpersonal dynamics and collaborativeprocesses. Based on these insights, we identify design opportunities for GenAI tools that nurture collaborativesynergy while preserving the creativity and values of human work.