# Understanding, Protecting, and Augmenting Human Cognition with Generative AI: A Synthesis of the CHI 2025 Tools for Thought Workshop

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21036 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.21036/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 44 of its 135 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Aug 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 44)

- [Homogenization Effects of Large Language Models on Human Creative Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01536/) (2024)
- [Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.09089/) (2025)
- [The Metacognitive Demands and Opportunities of Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.10893/) (2023)
- [Understanding the Role of Human Intuition on Reliance in Human-AI Decision-Making with Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.07255/) (2023)
- [Beware of Metacognitive Laziness: Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Learning Motivation, Processes, and Performance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.09315/) (2024)
- ["What It Wants Me To Say": Bridging the Abstraction Gap Between End-User Programmers and Code-Generating Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.06597/) (2023)
- [Human Creativity in the Age of LLMs: Randomized Experiments on Divergent and Convergent Thinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03703/) (2024)
- [Need Help? Designing Proactive AI Assistants for Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04596/) (2024)
- [Proactive Conversational Agents with Inner Thoughts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00383/) (2024)
- [Improving Steering and Verification in AI-Assisted Data Analysis with Interactive Task Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.02651/) (2024)
- [Generative and Malleable User Interfaces with Generative and Evolving Task-Driven Data Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04084/) (2025)
- [Evaluating Generative AI Systems is a Social Science Measurement Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10939/) (2024)
- [Ironies of Generative AI: Understanding and mitigating productivity loss in human-AI interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.11364/) (2024)
- [Exploring Challenges and Opportunities to Support Designers in Learning to Co-create with AI-based Manufacturing Design Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00192/) (2023)
- [Which Contributions Deserve Credit? Perceptions of Attribution in Human-AI Co-Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18357/) (2025)
- [Inkspire: Supporting Design Exploration with Generative AI through Analogical Sketching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.18588/) (2025)
- [Exploring Perspectives on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creativity of Knowledge Work: Beyond Mechanised Plagiarism and Stochastic Parrots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10751/) (2023)
- [How Work From Home Affects Collaboration: A Large-Scale Study of Information Workers in a Natural Experiment During COVID-19](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.15584/) (2020)
- [Timing Matters: How Using LLMs at Different Timings Influences Writers' Perceptions and Ideation Outcomes in AI-Assisted Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.06197/) (2025)
- [Do Expressions Change Decisions? Exploring the Impact of AI's Explanation Tone on Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.19730/) (2025)
- [Social-RAG: Retrieving from Group Interactions to Socially Ground AI Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02353/) (2024)
- ["It's like a rubber duck that talks back": Understanding Generative AI-Assisted Data Analysis Workflows through a Participatory Prompting Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.02903/) (2024)
- [Feedforward in Generative AI: Opportunities for a Design Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14229/) (2025)
- [Beyond Tools: Understanding How Heavy Users Integrate LLMs into Everyday Tasks and Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15395/) (2025)
- [CorpusStudio: Surfacing Emergent Patterns in a Corpus of Prior Work while Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12436/) (2025)
- [Will Code Remain a Relevant User Interface for End-User Programming with Generative AI Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.00382/) (2023)
- [Dynamic Prompt Middleware: Contextual Prompt Refinement Controls for Comprehension Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.02357/) (2024)
- [Augmenting Expert Cognition in the Age of Generative AI: Insights from Document-Centric Knowledge Work](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.24334/) (2025)
- [From Consumption to Collaboration: Measuring Interaction Patterns to Augment Human Cognition in Open-Ended Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.02780/) (2025)
- [Exploring Collaborative GenAI Agents in Synchronous Group Settings: Eliciting Team Perceptions and Design Considerations for the Future of Work](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14779/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Investigating the Effects of LLM Use on Critical Thinking Under Time Constraints: Access Timing and Time Availability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.08849/) (2026)
- [Orality: A Semantic Canvas for Externalizing and Clarifying Thoughts with Speech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.02544/) (2026)
- [Explaining Too Much? Understanding How Large Language Model Reasoning Traces Influence Performance and Metacognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.25856/) (2026)
- [Plans Work in Mysterious Ways: Evaluating a Plan Mode for Spreadsheet Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.23670/) (2026)
- [How AI Assistance Affects Human Skill Development: A Study of Learning with Logic Puzzles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.23543/) (2026)
- [Beyond "ChatGPT Can Make Mistakes": Designing Interventions to Support Metacognitive Monitoring in AI-Assisted Work](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.17065/) (2026)
- [Designing Against Deskilling: Metacognitive Feedback Reduces Cognitive Offloading to LLM Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.20143/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Generative AI (GenAI) radically expands the scope and capability of automation for work, education, and everyday tasks, a transformation posing both risks and opportunities for human cognition. How will human cognition change, and what opportunities are there for GenAI to augment it? Which theories, metrics, and other tools are needed to address these questions? The CHI 2025 workshop on Tools for Thought aimed to bridge an emerging science of how the use of GenAI affects human thought, from metacognition to critical thinking, memory, and creativity, with an emerging design practice for building GenAI tools that both protect and augment human thought. Fifty-six researchers, designers, and thinkers from across disciplines as well as industry and academia, along with 34 papers and portfolios, seeded a day of discussion, ideation, and community-building. We synthesize this material here to begin mapping the space of research and design opportunities and to catalyze a multidisciplinary community around this pressing area of research.