Beyond Individual UX: Defining Group Experience(GX) as a New Paradigm for Group-centered AI

2025-05-19

AI Summary

Current HCI and AI research overemphasizes individual experience, neglecting emergent collective perception, emotion, and cognition arising from group interaction. Method: This paper introduces “Group Experience” (GX) as a novel construct, providing the first systematic theoretical definition and establishing Group-centered AI (GCAI) as a new paradigm. Drawing on social psychology, group dynamics, and HCI/AI design principles, we develop a methodology that balances individual autonomy with collective well-being, alongside novel evaluation metrics tailored to group-level phenomena. Contribution/Results: We transcend the limitations of the “human-centered” paradigm by reorienting AI toward empowering collaborative group agency—not merely serving individuals. This foundational work advances theory and practice for multi-agent coordination, intelligent meeting support, and collaborative learning environments, offering both conceptual frameworks and actionable design guidelines for GX-aware AI systems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: User Experience and Usability
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Multiagent Systems: Agent/AI Theories and Architectures

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Fairness and ethical considerations in crowd work and in human-in-the-loop AI systems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems

Abstract

Recent advancements in HCI and AI have predominantly centered on individual user experiences, often neglecting the emergent dynamics of group interactions. This provocation introduces Group Experience(GX) to capture the collective perceptual, emotional, and cognitive dimensions that arise when individuals interact in cohesive groups. We challenge the conventional Human-centered AI paradigm and propose Group-centered AI(GCAI) as a framework that actively mediates group dynamics, amplifies diverse voices, and fosters ethical collective decision-making. Drawing on social psychology, organizational behavior, and group dynamics, we outline a group-centered design approach that balances individual autonomy with collective interests while developing novel evaluative metrics. Our analysis emphasizes rethinking traditional methodologies that focus solely on individual outcomes and advocates for innovative strategies to capture group collaboration. We call on researchers to bridge the gap between micro-level experiences and macro-level impacts, ultimately enriching and transforming collaborative human interactions.

Problem

• Defining Group Experience (GX) for collective interactions in AI
• Proposing Group-centered AI (GCAI) to mediate group dynamics
• Balancing individual autonomy with collective interests in design

Innovation

• Introducing Group Experience(GX) for collective dimensions
• Proposing Group-centered AI(GCAI) to mediate group dynamics
• Developing group-centered design balancing individual and collective