[MM/AI] Mental Models in Human-AI Interaction: Methods and Challenges in the Generative and Agentic AI Era (Workshop)

Abstract

The mental model construct is widely used in HCI to refer to the knowledge structure people hold in order to reason about and interact with computing systems. Yet it is often operationalized intuitively: the construct is often used interchangeably with related concepts (e.g., folk theories, sensemaking) and methods of studying it (e.g., through elicitation) are many and diverse, with each method resting on distinct assumptions about what counts as a mental model. Generative and agentic AI systems may further complicate mental model formation and elicitation as such systems are opaque by design and increasingly act on users' behalf across files, applications, and on the web. Together, these challenges may hinder the commensurability of research on people's mental models of AI systems. The MM/AI workshop calls for a critical reassessment of how we understand and study mental models in human-AI interaction research. It aims to foster theoretical and methodological exchange on mental models in human-AI interaction, identify open challenges, and develop directions for future research. We invite short papers on users' or stakeholders' mental models of AI systems, particularly contributions that reflect on the conceptual and methodological foundations of the construct. The half-day workshop combines lightning talks, hands-on elicitation exercises, and structured discussions on key questions concerning the future of the mental model for human-AI interaction research.

Accepted workshop paper to IUI '27, CFP is available at https://mentalmodelsofai.com/