Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) agents has introduced a new dynamic into the human social environment. This study investigates prosocial behavior in a hybrid human-AI setting, particularly within a gaming environment. Many existing studies on prosocial behavior are conducted in economic game settings in which the agents' intentions, and whether or not prosocial actions offer benefits, are explicit. This project explores prosocial interactions in spatial environments where the need for help by another agent might not be immediately obvious, and where cognitive processes such as attention, and decision-making processes about the cost of helping are thus likely to play a role. In a baseline study (N = 177), we investigated the likelihood of human agents reciprocating prosocial behavior initiated by an AI player. Results indicated that the low saliency of the AI player's actions was a primary reason for non-reciprocation. A follow-up study (N = 164) tested whether increasing the salience of the AI's actions would enhance human prosocial responses. We found support for our hypothesis from analysis of the time-series data and participants' self-reported post-game questionnaires. This research contributes to the growing field of human-AI cooperation, outlining a vision for a future where technology actively contributes to our collective well-being, and opening up new possibilities for positive transformation in a world increasingly populated by intelligent machines.