# Writer-Defined AI Personas for On-Demand Feedback Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.10433 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10433/

## Key facts

- Cited by 36 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 19 of its 68 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Sep 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [Personalizing Dialogue Agents: I have a dog, do you have pets too?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.07243/) (2018)
- [Social Simulacra: Creating Populated Prototypes for Social Computing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04024/) (2022)
- [AI Chains: Transparent and Controllable Human-AI Interaction by Chaining Large Language Model Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.01691/) (2021)
- [CoAuthor: Designing a Human-AI Collaborative Writing Dataset for Exploring Language Model Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.06796/) (2022)
- [Co-Writing with Opinionated Language Models Affects Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00560/) (2023)
- [Expanding Explainability: Towards Social Transparency in AI systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.04719/) (2021)
- [The Ghost in the Machine has an American accent: value conflict in GPT-3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07785/) (2022)
- [BoB: BERT Over BERT for Training Persona-based Dialogue Models from Limited Personalized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06169/) (2021)
- [A Pre-training Based Personalized Dialogue Generation Model with Persona-sparse Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04700/) (2019)
- [Exploiting Persona Information for Diverse Generation of Conversational Responses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.12188/) (2019)
- [Beyond Text Generation: Supporting Writers with Continuous Automatic Text Summaries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.09323/) (2022)
- [Interacting with next-phrase suggestions: How suggestion systems aid and influence the cognitive processes of writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00636/) (2022)
- [CharacterChat: Supporting the Creation of Fictional Characters through Conversation and Progressive Manifestation with a Chatbot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12314/) (2021)
- [LMCanvas: Object-Oriented Interaction to Personalize Large Language Model-Powered Writing Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.15125/) (2023)
- [Writing Assistants Should Model Social Factors of Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16275/) (2023)
- [Inspire creativity with ORIBA: Transform Artists' Original Characters into Chatbots through Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09776/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [MARG: Multi-Agent Review Generation for Scientific Papers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04259/) (2024)
- [MathVC: An LLM-Simulated Multi-Character Virtual Classroom for Mathematics Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06711/) (2024)
- [ChoiceMates: Supporting Unfamiliar Online Decision-Making with Multi-Agent Conversational Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01331/) (2023)
- [GhostWriter: Augmenting Collaborative Human-AI Writing Experiences Through Personalization and Agency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08855/) (2024)
- [Plurals: A System for Guiding LLMs Via Simulated Social Ensembles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17213/) (2024)
- [PersonaFlow: Designing LLM-Simulated Expert Perspectives for Enhanced Research Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12538/) (2024)
- [Understanding the LLM-ification of CHI: Unpacking the Impact of LLMs at CHI through a Systematic Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12557/) (2025)
- [Co-Writing with AI, on Human Terms: Aligning Research with User Demands Across the Writing Process](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12488/) (2025)
- [Collage is the New Writing: Exploring the Fragmentation of Text and User Interfaces in AI Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17217/) (2024)
- [Help Me Write a Story: Evaluating LLMs' Ability to Generate Writing Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.16007/) (2025)
- [Boosting Relational Deep Learning with Pretrained Tabular Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04934/) (2025)
- [Where Do I 'Add the Egg'?: Exploring Agency and Ownership in AI Creative Co-Writing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.15440/) (2025)
- [Just-In-Time Objectives: A General Approach for Specialized AI Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.14591/) (2025)
- [Surfacing Variations to Calibrate Perceived Reliability of MLLM-generated Image Descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.15692/) (2025)
- [CorpusStudio: Surfacing Emergent Patterns in a Corpus of Prior Work while Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12436/) (2025)
- [Penalizing Transparency? How AI Disclosure and Author Demographics Shape Human and AI Judgments About Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.01418/) (2025)
- [Collaborative Document Editing with Multiple Users and AI Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.11826/) (2025)
- [Constella: Supporting Storywriters' Interconnected Character Creation through LLM-based Multi-Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05820/) (2025)
- [Using AI for User Representation: An Analysis of 83 Persona Prompts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13047/) (2025)
- [AI Rivalry as a Craft: How Resisting and Embracing Generative AI Reshape Writing Professions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.09901/) (2025)
- [Composable Prompting Workspaces for Creative Writing: Exploration and Iteration Using Dynamic Widgets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.21394/) (2025)
- [Accessibility Scout: Personalized Accessibility Scans of Built Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.23190/) (2025)
- [StoryEnsemble: Enabling Dynamic Exploration & Iteration in the Design Process with AI and Forward-Backward Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03182/) (2025)
- [The AI Memory Gap: Users Misremember What They Created With AI or Without](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.11851/) (2025)
- [Exploring Mobile Touch Interaction with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.07629/) (2025)
- [FactFlow: Automatic Fact Sheet Generation and Customization from Tabular Dataset via AI Chain Design & Implementation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.17909/) (2025)
- [RevTogether: Supporting Science Story Revision with Multiple AI Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.01608/) (2025)
- [Who Owns the Text? Design Patterns for Preserving Authorship in AI-Assisted Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10236/) (2026)
- [What happens when reviewers receive AI feedback in their reviews?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.13817/) (2026)
- [CoLyricist: Enhancing Lyric Writing with AI through Workflow-Aligned Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.22606/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Compelling writing is tailored to its audience. This is challenging, as writers may struggle to empathize with readers, get feedback in time, or gain access to the target group. We propose a concept that generates on-demand feedback, based on writer-defined AI personas of any target audience. We explore this concept with a prototype (using GPT-3.5) in two user studies (N=5 and N=11): Writers appreciated the concept and strategically used personas for getting different perspectives. The feedback was seen as helpful and inspired revisions of text and personas, although it was often verbose and unspecific. We discuss the impact of on-demand feedback, the limited representativity of contemporary AI systems, and further ideas for defining AI personas. This work contributes to the vision of supporting writers with AI by expanding the socio-technical perspective in AI tool design: To empower creators, we also need to keep in mind their relationship to an audience.