If someone asked me to describe the most important messages from HHAI 2023, I would tell them that technology design is a deeply social process. We do not get to decide how to use AI tools on our best day – well-rested, when we're in sync with the other department heads, when we're patient and attentive. We make these calls with our current brains. Exhausted, distracted, disconnected, and often totally clueless!

Speaking the truth, plainly and clearly, is hard. Especially in science, where overconfidence in a result leads to disaster and under-confidence delays progress on urgent problems. Across the field(s) of human-AI interaction, this “calibration problem” rears its head. Some of the most important work being done today involves improving how AI tools can explain their behavior - and how we can explain AIs to each other. Frank van Harmelen calls this “meaning negotiation” and told me the field must progress long before we agree on terms.

HHAI, even more than other conferences I've attended, has a clear sense of self. We are here for one reason - to study how AI can support human goals and human flourishing. That requires interdisciplinary study, especially from psychologists, computer scientists, and HCI professionals, but it leads to a unity of purpose that encourages openness and discourages 80s-style ego posturing. My only regret is that the material is so interesting I won't have time to explore as much of Munich!

When I describe Abhishek’s and my work on augmented collective intelligence, often, people perceive it as exciting but very niche. But upon a closer look, our topic contains multitudes - more to study than anyone could do in a lifetime. How do human teams work together? How do they decide? What is artificial intelligence, and what kind of capabilities are available? What capabilities might be available soon? What happens when we make hybrid human-AI teams -- to the problem being solved, our sense of purpose and autonomy, our organizations, society, and our career paths?

Given all the hype about AI in the past few months, it might be tempting to write off human-AI interaction as a trend – but it's better thought of as the bedrock for organizational strategy and individual career planning for the rest of our time. The further AI gets integrated into our lives, the trickier the questions we must answer about how our values are reflected in these systems!