AI agency vs. human agency: understanding human–AI interactions on TikTok and their implications for user engagement
通过对TikTok用户的深度访谈，研究用户如何与具有能动性的AI协作，以及这种动态如何影响用户参与，发现用户接受机器能动性带来的个性化体验，同时用户能动性与机器能动性相互影响，形成协同效应。
Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has vastly reshaped user experiences on social media. AI-powered social media use and its outcomes largely depend on how users collaborate with AI that exercises agency. Through in-depth interviews with TikTok users, this study investigates how users collaborate with AI when using AI-powered social media and how such dynamics shape user engagement. We found that TikTok users are receptive to personalized experiences enabled by machine agency. However, by influencing each other, user agency and machine agency also led to user–AI synergy. Users deliberately influence content curation algorithms to make them cater more precisely to their needs; AI also facilitates users’ content creation and networking. Such AI–user collaboration on TikTok significantly influences medium engagement and social-interactive engagement. These findings advance our understanding of the dynamics between human agency and machine agency and, thus, how AI transforms user experiences on social media.