Generative AI User Experience: Developing Human--AI Epistemic Partnership

Researchers propose the Human-AI Epistemic Partnership Theory (HAEPT) to better understand how users interact with generative AI systems like ChatGPT in educational contexts. The theory argues that traditional adoption metrics are insufficient because GenAI actively participates in knowledge construction rather than merely supporting tasks.

• →Traditional user experience metrics like usefulness and ease of use are inadequate for understanding GenAI interactions in education.
• →The new HAEPT framework explains GenAI user experience through three interlocking contracts: epistemic, agency, and accountability.
• →Users dynamically adjust their relationship with GenAI through repeated calibration cycles rather than maintaining stable views.
• →Common issues like trust, over-reliance, and academic integrity can be reinterpreted as contract tensions rather than isolated problems.
• →The theory explains why trust and skepticism toward AI often coexist in educational partnerships.