Working with AI: How team cohesion depends on perceiving the AI as a tool or a partner

Background In the future, people will increasingly work alongside artificial intelligence (AI). To make this work humane and acceptable, team cohesion, i.e., the feeling of belonging together as a strong unit within an organization, is essential, as it enables team members to reach common targets and work together as a group. Why was this study done? AI is getting more and more integrated into work settings. However, it remains unclear how people perceive AI when it is implemented in different roles. Two different possibilities to applicate AI in work life is either as a tool or as a potential teammate and at this point it is unclear how these role perceptions affect important factors such as team cohesion or trust. This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of how different perceptions of AI roles influence these parameters. What did the researchers do and find? We conducted an online vignette study where the participants were randomly assigned to different job scenarios. Here, AI was introduced either as a tool or a teammate. Afterwards the participants evaluated their experience, answering questions about team cohesion and trust in AI. The study shows that: 1) people’s perception of the role of AI does not necessarily correspond with how we designed it to be, and 2) their perception of AI as a teammate or a tool is essential for how well they can create a team with it. What do these findings mean? When AI is perceived as a tool, it is harder to experience team spirit, while perception as a teammate strongly relates to cohesion. Trust plays an essential role in shaping the effect of partner perception on team cohesion: Especially trust in a teammate-like AI helps with higher team cohesion.