iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(6/6) This work was done in collaboration with @sunniesuhyoung.bsky.social , Angel Franyutti, Amaya Dharmasiri, @kushinm.bsky.social, Olga Russakovsky, and @judithfan.bsky.social. I’ll be presenting this work at the Modeling Minds and Mentalities Session (Friday April 17 @11:15am–Barcelona time)

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(5/6) 📌This matters because it shows that even brief messages about LLMs can shape how people understand, trust, and rely on them. As these systems become embedded in everyday life, the way we talk about them—across research, media, and product design—has real consequences.

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(4/6) 🔑2️⃣: In Study 2, we observed that the videos had a nuanced effect: watching the LLMs-as-machines video did lead to participants submitting answers that agreed with the LLM responses less, but only when the LLM responses were inconsistent.

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(3/6) 🔑1️⃣: Participants who watched LLMs-as-companions (vs. no video) believed LLMs were more capable of many cognitive and emotional capacities (see fig). However, watching LLMs-as-tools or machines (vs no video) could alter other beliefs about LLMs (see paper!).

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(2/6) We ran two pre-registered studies (N=470, 604) where participants watched short videos framing LLMs as machines, tools, or companions. In both, participants rated their beliefs about LLM mental capacities. In the second, they also used LLM outputs to answer factual questions.

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(1/6) People talk about AI systems (including large language models, or LLMs) in different ways. We first ask how this might shape what people believe about the technology–primarily, what mental capacities (e.g., the ability to have intentions) people attribute to LLMs.

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

How should we talk about LLMs? Does it matter if we frame them as a machines 📠, tools ⚒️, or companions 👥? Our #CHI2026 paper shows that these framings can alter what people believe about LLMs and how they use them. See 🧵! Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.18039 Presentation: Friday 11:15am in P1-128

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

(6/6) This work was done in collaboration with @sunniesuhyoung.bsky.social , Angel Franyutti, Amaya Dharmasiri, Kushin Mukherjee, Olga Russakovsky, and Judith Fan. I’ll be giving a talk on this work at CHI 2026 at the Modeling Minds and Mentalities Session (Friday April 17 @11:15am–Barcelona time)!

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

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Allison Chen @allisonchen23.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

How should we talk about LLMs? Does it matter if we frame them as a machines 📠, tools ⚒️, or companions 👥? In our #CHI2026 paper, that these framings can alter what people believe about LLMs and how they use them. See 🧵for more! Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.18039

diagram of 3 videos presenting large language models as machines, tools, or companions, or no video condition. Followed by sample survey question "How capable do you believe LLMs are of ... having intentions?" followed by 7 point likert scale

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