Human Generative Drive in the AI-Opaque Workplace (GAIO)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Marina Fiedler
• Subject Area: Operations Management and Computer Science for Business Administration
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 574128993

AI systems are increasingly prevalent in the workplace. A central element of AI is its opacity. This arises from three sources: intentional concealment by AI providers, technical literacy gaps among users, and cognitive mismatch, the inability of human reasoning to cope with the high dimensionality of mathematical AI models. This project examines how AI opacity affects human generative drive, the ability and motivation to produce novel, meaningful, and contextually relevant work contributions. When people cannot understand, learn from, or build upon AI outputs, their sense of authorship, willingness to critically reflect, and creative problem-solving abilities erode. Following Sandberg and Alvesson's (2011) problematization methodology, the project challenges three problematic assumptions in current research: 1) AI opacity integrates seamlessly without affecting human generative drive, 2) transparency methods have universally similar effects on generative drive, and 3) technical solutions are sufficient to establish transparency. Accordingly, the project pursues the following objectives: 1) Examining how the three oapcity sources influence human generative drive, 2) Analyzing how different transparency methods (technical XAI, organizational, educational) moderate these relationships, and 3) Developing integrated socio-technical interventions to preserve human generative drive. These objectives are investigated through a 36-month mixed-methods design with three sequential work packages: The first work package comprises ethnographic observations and 30 interviews in three partner organizations (Siemens, Netcentric, Beutlhauser) to identify AI opacity-generative drive relationships. The second work package employs interviews, a two-wave survey (n=350), and laboratory experiments (n=180) to analyze moderating transparency effects on generative drive. The third work package uses Design Science Research to develop three to five integrated transparency interventions to support human generative drive in an AI-augmented workplace. The project results provide substantive insights into differential transparency effects based on opacity source and their influence on human generative drive. The developed toolkit enables organizations to implement evidence-based transparency strategies. Planned publications in leading journals ensure scientific impact. Thus, the project makes a decisive contribution to preserving human generative drive in AI-augmented work environments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants