Rethinking AI-Mediated Minority Support in Power-Imbalanced Group Decision-Making: From Anonymity To Authenticity
TLDR
AI-mediated anonymity for minority voices in group decisions can reduce psychological safety, while AI-generated counterarguments improve satisfaction.
Key contributions
- AI-anonymized minority input increased participation but reduced psychological safety and satisfaction.
- AI-generated autonomous counterarguments improved satisfaction and reduced marginalization.
- Reveals trade-offs among anonymity, authenticity, agency, and accountability in AIMC design.
- Emphasizes AI's role in facilitating group reflection over substituting human responsibility.
Why it matters
This paper challenges common assumptions about AI's role in supporting minority voices. It reveals counterintuitive effects of anonymity and offers critical provocations for designing more effective and ethical AI-mediated communication systems, especially in hierarchical settings.
Original Abstract
AI-mediated Communication (AIMC) systems increasingly aim to protect minority voices by anonymizing or proxying their input, but anonymity and authenticity are not the same construct. This position paper draws on an ongoing empirical study comparing two LLM-powered minority support strategies in hierarchical group decision-making. We found that relaying minority input anonymously through AI increased participation but significantly reduced psychological safety and satisfaction, while generating only autonomous counterarguments improved satisfaction and reduced marginalization. These counterintuitive findings reveal three provocations for AIMC design in hierarchical contexts: the inherent trade-offs among anonymity, authenticity, agency, and accountability; the risk that power asymmetry reverses intended effects; and the need for AI to facilitate group reflection rather than substitute for human responsibility. These findings and provocations are offered as a contribution to the Restoring Human Authenticity in AI-Mediated Communication workshop.
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