The Future of Research in the Age of Human–AI Collective Intelligence

A Half-Day Workshop at the ACM Collective Intelligence Conference (CI 2026)

Workshop Day: September 27, 2026 (Sunday), 9:00 AM–1:30 PM ET, followed by an optional two-hour Handbook of Human Computation Town Hall / extended discussion from 1:30–3:30 PM ET for attendees who are interested and available to stay.

Overview

Scientific communities have long functioned as collective intelligence systems that aggregate expertise, evaluate evidence, and generate new knowledge. As humans and AI increasingly participate in shared systems of knowledge production, fundamental questions emerge about how science will evolve.

Because science functions as a collective intelligence system, understanding these transformations requires both HCOMP perspectives on human–AI complementarity and CI perspectives on distributed cognition. This workshop examines changes at multiple scales: from daily knowledge work and research practice, to scientific communication, to broader questions about the future evolution of collective intelligence in human–AI knowledge systems.

Topics & Themes

Human–AI Collaboration in Research

How are AI systems changing the conduct of research, including hypothesis generation, data analysis, coding, and the division of labor between human and machine contributors?

Scientific Communication & Knowledge Production

How is AI reshaping the creation, dissemination, evaluation, and interpretation of scientific knowledge?

Collective Cognition & Distributed Problem Solving

How do hybrid human–AI communities aggregate information, coordinate expertise, build consensus, and solve complex problems?

The Long-Term Evolution of Knowledge Systems

How might AI transform the future evolution of science, collective intelligence, and human knowledge systems?

About HCOMP & CI 2026

This workshop is proudly hosted in conjunction with the joint AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (HCOMP) and the ACM Collective Intelligence Conference (CI).

HCOMP is the premier venue for disseminating the latest research findings on crowdsourcing and human computation. Collective Intelligence (CI) is an interdisciplinary event that brings together researchers from academia, business, and other institutions to share insights and design frameworks for collective intelligence in its many forms.

By bringing this workshop to the joint conference, we aim to bridge perspectives from both communities to explore the rapidly evolving intersection of human and artificial intelligence.

Workshop Program

This will be a half-day, hybrid workshop. Please note that all attendees are required to pay the workshop registration fee . You do not need to register for the full main conference to attend the workshop.

Time	Activity	Details
9:00–9:15 AM	Welcome and Opening Session	Welcome, workshop framing, and opening perspectives on human–AI collaboration, knowledge work, and scientific communication.
9:15–9:55 AM	Invited Talk: Dr. Sergi Valverde	Talk Title: The Evolutionary Ecology of Software: Constraints, Innovation, and the AI Disruption
9:55–10:30 AM	Invited Talk: Dr. Giordano De Marzo	Talk Title: Collective behavior and emergent coordination in AI Agents societies
10:30–11:00 AM	Morning Coffee & Poster Session	Poster presentations featuring accepted workshop papers and extended abstracts. Accepted Posters: Guiding the Guided: Instructing a Research Assistant Through an AI-Augmented Research Pipeline AI Automation Can Scale, but Not Replace Consensus-Driven Scientific AI Testing How Will AI Companions Influence Loneliness? An Automatic-Deliberative Framework Rethinking the Sciences in Self-Driving Labs and Autonomous Materials Discovery Research Designing and Governing Co-Inquiry in Self-Driving Laboratories Building Custom LLM Tools for Studying Social Behavior: A Case Study of Empathic Communication From Narrative Roles to Occupational Taxonomies: A Hybrid Human–AI Framework for Identifying Occupations in News Beyond the Leaderboard: Games With a Purpose in Practice
11:00–11:45 AM	Invited Talk: Dr. Ryan Boyd	Talk Title: Producing the Phenomenon: AI Collaborators and the Generative Shift in Social-Scientific Methods
11:45 AM–12:20 PM	Invited Talk: Dr. Federico Rossano	Talk Title: The Data We Have, the Data We Need
12:20–1:05 PM	Research Strategy Lab / Roundtable Discussion	Interactive discussion on major research questions, methods, datasets, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration.
1:05–1:30 PM	Group Stories & Next Steps	Each group shares its 2-3minute scenario story and key takeaway, followed by opportunities to continue the work through new collaborations, the ACM TMIS special issue, and the Handbook of Human Computation.
1:30–3:30 PM	Handbook of Human Computation Town Hall	Optional continuation following the official workshop program. Attendees who are interested and available are welcome to stay for an additional two-hour session focused on further discussion and community engagement. For now, this session is planned as a Town Hall bringing together perspectives from the HCOMP and Collective Intelligence communities, with discussion connected to the Handbook of Human Computation, Second Edition (HCH2)

Time

Activity

Details

9:00–9:15 AM

Welcome and Opening Session

Welcome, workshop framing, and opening perspectives on human–AI collaboration, knowledge work, and scientific communication.

9:15–9:55 AM

Invited Talk: Dr. Sergi Valverde

Talk Title: The Evolutionary Ecology of Software: Constraints, Innovation, and the AI Disruption

9:55–10:30 AM

Invited Talk: Dr. Giordano De Marzo

Talk Title: Collective behavior and emergent coordination in AI Agents societies

10:30–11:00 AM

Morning Coffee & Poster Session

Poster presentations featuring accepted workshop papers and extended abstracts.

Accepted Posters:

Guiding the Guided: Instructing a Research Assistant Through an AI-Augmented Research Pipeline
AI Automation Can Scale, but Not Replace Consensus-Driven Scientific AI Testing
How Will AI Companions Influence Loneliness? An Automatic-Deliberative Framework
Rethinking the Sciences in Self-Driving Labs and Autonomous Materials Discovery Research
Designing and Governing Co-Inquiry in Self-Driving Laboratories
Building Custom LLM Tools for Studying Social Behavior: A Case Study of Empathic Communication
From Narrative Roles to Occupational Taxonomies: A Hybrid Human–AI Framework for Identifying Occupations in News
Beyond the Leaderboard: Games With a Purpose in Practice

11:00–11:45 AM

Invited Talk: Dr. Ryan Boyd

Talk Title: Producing the Phenomenon: AI Collaborators and the Generative Shift in Social-Scientific Methods

11:45 AM–12:20 PM

Invited Talk: Dr. Federico Rossano

Talk Title: The Data We Have, the Data We Need

12:20–1:05 PM

Research Strategy Lab / Roundtable Discussion

Interactive discussion on major research questions, methods, datasets, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration.

1:05–1:30 PM

Group Stories & Next Steps

Each group shares its 2-3minute scenario story and key takeaway, followed by opportunities to continue the work through new collaborations, the ACM TMIS special issue, and the Handbook of Human Computation.

1:30–3:30 PM

Handbook of Human Computation Town Hall

Optional continuation following the official workshop program. Attendees who are interested and available are welcome to stay for an additional two-hour session focused on further discussion and community engagement.

For now, this session is planned as a Town Hall bringing together perspectives from the HCOMP and Collective Intelligence communities, with discussion connected to the Handbook of Human Computation, Second Edition (HCH2)

Organizing Committee