Realism Drives Interpersonal Reciprocity but Yields to AI-Assisted Egocentrism in a Coordination Experiment

Virtual reality technologies that enhance realism and artifcial intelligence (AI) systems that assist human behavior are increasingly interwoven in social applications. However, how these technologies might jointly infuence interpersonal coordination remains unclear. We conducted an experiment with 240 participants in 120 pairs who interacted through remote-controlled robot cars in a physical space or virtual cars in a digital space, with or without autosteering assistance, using the chicken game, an established model of interpersonal coordination. We fnd that both realism and AI assistance help improve user performance but through opposing mechanisms. 

Real-world contexts enhanced communication, fostering reciprocal actions and collective benefts. In contrast, autosteering assistance diminished the need for interpersonal coordination, shifting participants’ focus towards self-interest. Notably, when combined, the egocentric efects of autosteering assistance outweighed the prosocial efects of realism. The design of HCI systems that involve social coordination will, we believe, need to take such efects into account.