Humanlike AI co-writing (real-time suggestions and an agentic cursor) evoked feelings of surveillance, judgment and eeriness, and the moving cursor distracted writers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Participants attributed a feeling of being watched and judged while writing to the agent's social presence under humanlike design (synchronous typing and the cursor together); the abstract links the cursor to feelings of surveillance. → Michael Yin 2026 q2 i? The moving cursor created visual distraction and anticipation that disrupted writing. → Michael Yin 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Michael Yin 2026¶

Michael Yin, Angela Chiang, Samuel Rhys Cox, and Robert Xiao. (2026). "It Felt a Bit Eerie": Exploring Humanlike Interactions During Collaborative Writing with an Artificial Agent. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24729 doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.24729

q2 · i? · causal · r1

In the thematic analysis of social presence (§5.3.1), participants reported feeling monitored, which the authors attribute to the social presence created by humanlike design, temporal and visual together, rather than to the cursor alone; P35 said "So it felt a bit eerie, like someone else is reading my text".

"So it felt a bit eerie, like someone else is reading my text."

Michael Yin 2026 (2)¶

Michael Yin, Angela Chiang, Samuel Rhys Cox, and Robert Xiao. (2026). "It Felt a Bit Eerie": Exploring Humanlike Interactions During Collaborative Writing with an Artificial Agent. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24729

q2 · i? · causal · r?

Participants described cursor motion as destabilizing and distracting during writing (§5.2.1); P25 said "suddenly there's things flicking and things on the screen... it's more of the visual distraction".

"suddenly there's things flicking and things on the screen... it's more of the visual distraction"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Attention — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• An agentic cursor increased participants' understanding and predictability of the AI agent's actions during collaborative writing — related
• Synchronous AI suggestions shape subsequent writing, offering new ideas but risking influence over the writer's voice and argument — related
• Synchronous autonomous AI suggestions increased perceived writing efficiency but also caused distraction and mental overload during writing — related
• Participants generally felt humanlikeness should not be a design goal for a writing-support agent used as a tool — related
• Agent perception followed a U-shape across variants: the mixed temporally-humanlike/visually-nonhumanlike Variant 2 was rated least positively on partnership and agent-perception measures — related
• High-tech VAD equipment made some participants feel under observation and stressed, and viewing recorded mistakes before teammates was seen as critical in both VAD forms, a potential threat to psychological safety — related
• Producing a public information resource evoked a sense of responsibility toward readers that motivated care about information quality — related
• Macrosystem conditions such as social media and AI access shape availability to learn, with FoMO causing distractions during learning — related