I Lead, You Help but Only with Enough Details

TLDR

Recent AI advances enable users to collaborate with the technology in creative activities such as art. This study investigates user experience with a collaborative drawing interface, DuetDraw, designed to let users and an AI co‑create pictures. Thirty participants completed drawing tasks while thinking aloud, then answered surveys and interviews to evaluate the interface. Users preferred detailed instructions, wanted to lead but also sought AI explanations only when desired, and despite low ratings of predictability, controllability, and comprehensibility, they enjoyed the interactions, informing design implications for AI‑creative collaboration.

Abstract

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have increased the opportunities for users to interact with the technology. Now, users can even collaborate with AI in creative activities such as art. To understand the user experience in this new user--AI collaboration, we designed a prototype, DuetDraw, an AI interface that allows users and the AI agent to draw pictures collaboratively. We conducted a user study employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Thirty participants performed a series of drawing tasks with the think-aloud method, followed by post-hoc surveys and interviews. Our findings are as follows: (1) Users were significantly more content with DuetDraw when the tool gave detailed instructions. (2) While users always wanted to lead the task, they also wanted the AI to explain its intentions but only when the users wanted it to do so. (3) Although users rated the AI relatively low in predictability, controllability, and comprehensibility, they enjoyed their interactions with it during the task. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for user interfaces where users can collaborate with AI in creative works.