When Is Generative AI Use Acceptable? Social Norms in Augmented Work and Life
Generative AI is increasingly integrated into professional and private life, but the social norms of its (un)acceptable use are poorly understood. Disagreements exist about when AI augmentation represents legitimate efficiency and when it undermines authenticity and fairness.
In this project, Christoph Lutz and Gemma Newlands investigate how the emerging moral boundaries of hybrid intelligence are negotiated and institutionalized. Integrating perspectives from communication, sociology, organizational studies and human-computer interaction, they study how social evaluations of generative AI use are formed, contested and stratified. Using quantitative (experiments, surveys) and qualitative methods (interviews, workshops), Christoph and Gemma aim to identify how factors such as time reallocation, performance outcomes, user characteristics, professional context and transparency shape judgments of social acceptability and expected rewards and sanctions. They are also interested in associated disclosure norms and practices (i.e., when and why people conceal or strategically disclose generative AI use). Thus, the project contributes to a deeper understanding of hybrid intelligence and to debates on responsible AI and digital inequality.