Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: Infrastructure to Study Human-AI Hybrid Interactions with Behavioral Experiments

The world is becoming a hybrid society, where people interact with each other and with artificial intelligence (AI) agents. These human-AI relationships are hard to study. To enhance such investigations, the researchers build new online tools that let thousands of humans and AI “bots” meet and interact. These new tools are integrated into existing platforms for the behavioral sciences (Dallinger and PsyNet). This project helps scientists run large, realistic experiments to see exactly how humans and AI influence each other and learn how to make teamwork with AI more productive for everyone. The goal of this project is to make it easier for scientists across many fields to study how AI and humans can work together through three related aims. First, scientists build new tools to run social network experiments that combine people and AI agents. Second, there are three case studies showing different ways humans and AI can interact in group settings. Third, training and educational materials help researchers use the platform. This research helps understand hybrid societies and helps design better businesses and industries where people and AI collaborate effectively. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.