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Research

Studying how AI changes human collaboration.

IMDEA develops and investigates Cooperative AI environments designed to understand how artificial intelligence can support people not only in producing better individual outputs, but in thinking, learning and creating together.

Our research focuses on the interaction between humans, artificial intelligence and shared physical-digital environments.

Explore our research Research with IMDEA
Physical environmentSocialStation®Thinks4®AIPerson

Person and AI. The classic model: one person asks, the AI answers.

The research question

From AI performance to human collaboration.

How can we measure whether AI is improving the quality of human collaboration, not only the quality of the final answer?

  1. Output

    What was produced?

  2. Process

    How did people collaborate?

  3. Human dynamics

    How did AI influence participation, dialogue and collective reasoning?

Research framework

Three layers, one object of study.

We study people, AI and space together, because cooperation happens where the three meet.

  • Human

    • Participation
    • Interaction
    • Inclusion
    • Engagement
    • Learning
    • Creativity

  • Cooperative AI

    • AI mediation
    • Collaborative prompting
    • Shared workflows
    • Feedback
    • Knowledge generation
    • Collective intelligence

  • Physical + digital environment

    • Shared interfaces
    • SocialStation®
    • Multimodal interaction
    • Physical proximity
    • Digital behaviour
    • Context

Human-Centred Cooperative AI

Core research questions

Four questions guide our work.

  1. Can AI improve the quality of human collaboration?

    We study not only what people produce, but how they communicate, negotiate, exchange ideas and construct knowledge together.

  2. Can AI increase participation rather than individualisation?

    We investigate whether shared AI environments can encourage interaction between people instead of replacing it.

  3. How can Cooperative AI be measured?

    We explore indicators related to participation, engagement, contribution balance, interaction patterns, learning processes and collective outcomes.

  4. What role should humans retain in AI-mediated environments?

    Human agency, educational mediation, transparency, ethics and responsible AI remain central to the research framework.

Research areas

Six domains, one research agenda.

  • Collaborative Learning

    How groups construct knowledge through shared AI interaction.

  • Human-AI Interaction

    How people communicate, coordinate and make decisions when AI becomes part of the collaborative process.

  • Multimodal Learning Analytics

    Analysis of interaction signals generated across physical and digital environments.

  • Collective Intelligence

    Understanding whether groups supported by AI can generate knowledge and solutions beyond individual contributions.

  • AI Literacy

    Supporting critical, informed and responsible interaction with artificial intelligence.

  • Responsible AI

    Privacy, transparency, human oversight and responsible deployment of AI systems.

The Cooperative AI Lab

From real environments to research data.

SocialStation® and Thinks4® can operate as an experimental environment in which Cooperative AI is observed and studied in real-world contexts.

Cooperative AI LabReal environmentHuman interactionSocialStation®Thinks4®Data + observationScientific insightImproved Cooperative AI
  1. Real environment
  2. Human interaction
  3. SocialStation®
  4. Thinks4®
  5. Data + observation
  6. Scientific insight
  7. Improved Cooperative AI

Where we observe Cooperative AI

  • Education
  • Universities
  • Corporate learning
  • Public spaces
  • Culture
  • Innovation labs

Measuring collaboration

  • Participation
  • Turn-taking
  • Idea diversity
  • Contribution balance
  • Engagement
  • Consensus building
  • Peer interaction
  • AI dependency
  • Knowledge construction

We are interested in what happens before the final answer.

Traditional AI evaluation often focuses on accuracy, speed and output quality.

Cooperative AI requires additional metrics capable of analysing the human process around AI.

AI should amplify human relationships, not replace them.

Our research vision places people at the centre of artificial intelligence.

The purpose of Cooperative AI is not to remove human interaction from learning, collaboration or decision-making.

It is to create environments in which technology strengthens participation, dialogue and collective intelligence.

Research collaboration

Research is stronger when it is collaborative.

IMDEA is open to scientific collaboration with universities, research centres, schools, AI laboratories, psychologists, social scientists, HCI researchers and learning scientists.

  • Joint research

    • Joint studies
    • Experimental protocols
    • Scientific publications
    • Validation studies

  • European R&D

    • Horizon Europe
    • Digital Europe
    • European research consortia
    • Pilot experimentation

  • Academic networks

    • Doctoral research
    • University partnerships
    • Research labs
    • International scientific networks
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Our research direction

Building the science of Cooperative AI.

IMDEA aims to contribute to a research field focused on understanding how artificial intelligence can become part of human collaborative systems while preserving agency, participation, inclusion and meaningful social interaction.

  • Human behaviour.
  • Artificial intelligence.
  • Shared environments.
  • Collective intelligence.