2026
Tools for Thought: Understanding, Protecting, and Augmenting Human Cognition with Generative AI — From Vision to Implementation
Abstract & BibTeX
Building on the first Tools for Thought (TfT) workshop at CHI 2025, we invite researchers, designers, and practitioners to further operationalise approaches for the design, usage, and evaluation of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as a TfT. The first goal of the workshop is to put into focus which outcomes a TfT should help people achieve to effectively augment their cognition while avoiding its erosion. Secondly, we will explore how to achieve these outcomes through design and usage strategies. Third, the workshop will also address what a TfT needs for its successful adoption and integration into people’s flow, so that they can benefit from the tools’ potential in their own terms. By focussing on these three research goals, the workshop aims to further develop and advance the multidisciplinary TfT community interested in exploring research frameworks, theories, methods, and approaches to conceptualising, designing, and researching GenAI as a TfT.
@inproceedings{zhang2026tools,
author = {Zhang, Zelun Tony and von Felten, Nick and Reicherts, Leon and Tankelevitch, Lev and Guan, Zhitong and Rintel, Sean and Fu, Yue and He, Jessica and Holstein, Kenneth and Sarkar, Advait and Ramos, Gonzalo and Schmitt, Anuschka and Singh, Anjali and Li, Haotian and Palani, Srishti and Dalsgaard, Peter},
title = {Tools for Thought: Understanding, Protecting, and Augmenting Human Cognition with Generative AI — From Vision to Implementation},
booktitle = {CHI 2026},
year = {2026},
month = {April},
publisher = {ACM},
url = {https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/tools-for-thought-understanding-protecting-and-augmenting-human-cognition-with-generative-ai-from-vision-to-implementation/},
}
Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment
Abstract & BibTeX
Ineffective meetings are pervasive. Thinking ahead explicitly about meeting goals may improve effectiveness, but current collaboration platforms lack integrated support. We tested a lightweight goal-reflection intervention in a preregistered field experiment in a global technology company (361 employees, 7196 meetings). Over two weeks, workers in the treatment group completed brief pre-meeting surveys in their collaboration platform, nudging attention to goals for upcoming meetings. To measure impact, both treatment and control groups completed post-meeting surveys about meeting effectiveness. While the intervention impact on meeting effectiveness was not statistically significant, mixed-methods findings revealed improvements in self-reported awareness and behaviour across both groups, with post-meeting surveys unintentionally functioning as an intervention. We highlight the promise of supporting goal reflection, while noting challenges of evaluating and supporting workplace reflection for meetings, including workflow and collaboration norms, and attitudes and behaviours around meeting preparation. We conclude with implications for designing technological support for meeting intentionality
@inproceedings{tankelevitch2026nudging,
author = {Tankelevitch, Lev and Scott, Ava Elizabeth and Challakere, Nagaravind and Panda, Payod and Rintel, Sean},
title = {Nudging Attention to Workplace Meeting Goals: A Large-Scale, Preregistered Field Experiment},
booktitle = {CHI 2026},
year = {2026},
month = {April},
publisher = {ACM},
url = {https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/nudging-attention-to-workplace-meeting-goals-a-large-scale-preregistered-field-experiment/},
}
