Enhancing Performance or Hijacking Attention? A Workshop on the Use of AI in Workplace Environments
Summary
In today's technology-driven workplace, digital distractions and frequent task switching significantly impact worker productivity and well-being. With the rapid integration of AI tools and Large Language Models (LLMs), workers face new challenges in managing their attention between human cognition and AI-assisted workflows. This workshop will explore the dual nature of AI tools, examining their potential to enhance productivity as well as the risk of fostering "metacognitive laziness" and digital distraction. Through collaborative design activities and discussions, we will examine strategies for developing attention management systems that support mindful task-switching between human and AI-driven work.
Workshop Goals and Themes
Theme 1 - AI a mediator for distraction:
tools, like Pomodoro or focus modes in writing application are often static and require explicit use. A context-aware AI agent, however, could anticipate user intention and state and dynamically suggest or even initiate a distraction-free environment. Can AI-driven attention management systems intelligently prioritize tasks and filter workplace distractions? How can AI dynamically adjust focus strategies based on a worker’s current cognitive state? And how can workplace AI tools be designed to support meaningful, focused work rather than encouraging rapid context switching?
Theme 2 - AI as a potential distraction:
tools like ChatGPT or CoPilot seem like a double-edged sword for attention management. On the one hand, they can boost productivity, on the other hand they tempt workers to abstain from deep work and turn to the AI for help and further elaboration. How can AI-driven systems help workers minimize distractions while maintaining flexibility? Do AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot enhance deep work or reinforce a "shallow work" mindset? What role does AI play in reducing cognitive overload versus contributing to task-switching fatigue?
Theme 3 - Design for productivity and well-being:
tools are available to help workers mitigate the negative effects of multi-tasking and distractions. But what keeps them from being effectively integrated into modern workflows? A key challenge is the misalignment between tool design and real-world work habits. How can tools support frequent context switching? And while such switches have been shown to affect worker satisfaction and well-being, how can we mitigate their negative effects?
Call for participation
We invite researchers and students interested in the use of AI tools in the workplace, worker well-being, and attention management in multitasking environments to participate in our workshop. The workshop will explore the intersection of productivity and well-being in AI-enabled work settings, offering opportunities to engage in discussions, collaborative design activities, and knowledge sharing. Those interested in participating should submit a brief position paper (up to 1000 words - excluding references) summarizing your experience, research, interests or relevant projects. The ACM Master Article Submission Templates (single-column) must be used to prepare the position paper.
Submission Deadline: May 8, 2025, EOD AOE (Anywhere On Earth)
Notification Date: May 15, 2025, EOD AOE
Camera-ready deadline: May 22, 2025, EOD AOE
Reviewers will assess the relevance of your submission to the workshop themes, the author's perspective, the approach taken and the perspective on the themes. Materials and accepted papers will be made available to all participants at least 1 week before the workshop day. At least one author from each accepted submission must attend the workshop and register for at least one day of the CHIWORK 2025 conference. We plan to publish the content submitted by participants as workshop proceedings, e.g. via https://ceur-ws.org or ArXiv with report numbers.
Workshop Schedule
(14:30 – 18:30)