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Cited by 135Social Robot Interaction and HRIHuman-Automation Interaction and SafetyTeam Dynamics and Performance

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 97 of the 97 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 119 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Investigating AI Teammate Communication Strategies and Their Impact in Human-AI Teams for Effective Teamwork

Open access
Zhang, Rui, Duan, Wen, Flathmann, Christopher, McNeese, Nathan, Freeman, Guo, Williams, Alyssa·2023·Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Recently, AI is integrating into teams to collaborate with humans as a teammate with the goal of achieving unprecedented team outcomes. Much of the coordination between humans and AI teammates relies on human-AI communication, which is challenging due to AI's limitations on natural language communication. Thus, it is essential to identify and develop effective communication strategies for AI teammates in human-AI teams to facilitate the coordination process. Through interviews with 60 participants who collaborated with an AI teammate in a multiplayer online game, in this paper, we explore communication strategies that humans expect AI teammates to apply to support human-AI coordination and collaboration in dyadic teaming environments, and how the AI teammate's communication can impact teaming processes. Our findings highlight four communication strategies AI teammates should apply to support their coordination with humans in dyadic teaming environments. We also find that AI teammates' proactive communication with humans could facilitate the development of human trust and situation awareness, whereas AI lacking such proactive communication is often not perceived as a teammate. Our study extends the current CSCW/HCI research on human-AI communication in teaming environments by shedding light on how communication should be structured in dyadic human-AI teams for effective and smooth collaboration.

Overview

CoChat Summary

TL;DR

Through 60 interviews after a Wizard-of-Oz dyadic human-AI teaming task in ArmA 3, this paper identifies four communication strategies humans expect AI teammates to use and shows that proactive AI communication supports trust and situation awareness, while non-proactive AI is often not perceived as a teammate. It proposes three design elements for human-AI communication in dyadic teams.

Key findings

  • Humans expected AI teammates to apply four communication strategies: proactively communicating, balancing efficiency and sociability, providing immediate responses, and avoiding excessive communication once a communication pattern formed in repeated tasks.
  • Proactive AI communication facilitated trust by benefiting humans’ individual performance, increasing transparency, and making the AI seem like a reliable partner; it also developed team situation awareness by informing AI progress and helping humans decide next steps.
  • AI lacking proactive communication was often perceived as an individual rather than a teammate, hindering coordination; humans then relied on implicit cues such as the map or seeing the AI in the game space.
  • Excessive AI communication could distract humans or interrupt their own tasks, especially after coordination routines were established.

Methods

  • 60 semi-structured interviews (10 open-ended questions; total 428 minutes 30 seconds; typically 7–10 minutes each) after participants completed three rounds of an eight-minute timed crate-collection task in ArmA 3 with a Wizard-of-Oz “AI” teammate Zeus; half interacted with a proactive-communication AI and half with a non-proactive one, using text chat only, with AI communication accuracy set at 100%.
  • Participants were recruited from a midsize Southeastern university subject pool; mean age was 18.58 (range 18–21); 45 (75%) played games less than 1 hour per week; 52 (86.7%) were not familiar with ArmA 3; reported NARS scores ranged from 1.42 to 3.93 (Table 1: 1.43–3.93; mean 3.05, median 3.11).
  • Inductive qualitative analysis: two authors read transcripts, highlighted relevant material, independently identified themes/subthemes, then refined them with all authors.

Limitations

  • Stated by the paper: the dyadic setting limits generalization to more complex team compositions; human and AI shared the same responsibility, so findings may differ with unique roles; only one specific context was examined; participants were college students averaging 19 years old and novices at the task; and AI communication was always 100% accurate, unlike real-world tasks.
  • Evident from the text: the Wizard-of-Oz design means participants did not interact with an actual AI; the fixed phrase list and text-only channel constrained natural communication; and the short interviews (typically 7–10 minutes) in a game context may limit depth and generalizability.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1145/3610072

Cites

97 of 97 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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0 Valid · 1 Not valid · 60 Not checked · 69 Own results and interpretations

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Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 27

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Metadata

Authors
Zhang, R., Duan, W., Flathmann, C., McNeese, N., Freeman, G., & Williams, A.
Affiliations
Clemson University (US)
Venue
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Published
2023-09-28
Volume
7
Issue
CSCW2
Pages
1-31
ISSN
2573-0142 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4387329047
Cited by
134
References
97
Citations by year
2026: 60 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 4
FWCI
25.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
  • Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
Keywords
human-AI teaming, human-AI communication, communication strategies, team coordination, proactive communication, trust in AI, situational awareness, online multiplayer games, AI teammates

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