Rethinking Collaboration in the Age of AI
As AI reshapes how we work alone, the challenge is remembering how to work together.
As AI tools flood our workflows, from ChatGPT to Miro AI, a subtle shift is happening in how we think and build together. Are we moving toward richer collaboration, or accidentally isolating ourselves in a sea of digital companions?
The Rise of the 1:1 Human-AI Workflow
In 2024–2025, the way we work has changed dramatically.
We now use AI to:
Plan strategy documents
Draft product specs
Summarize meetings
Generate idea boards
Automate workflows
Generated entire digital products
This powerful collaboration between humans and machines has sparked a new kind of creativity: fast, personal, and efficient. But in the rush to upgrade our thinking partners, where did our team go?
Alone, Together with AI
While AI co-pilots are exciting, there’s a darker undercurrent forming.
Several studies in 2024–2025 are raising red flags:
The Guardian highlighted that frequent users of ChatGPT report feeling lonelier and having fewer offline connections.
Financial Times revealed that customer service workers using AI reported emotional fatigue, withdrawal, and even substance use.
MIT studies have found that voice-based AI tools, which were once helpful, can become isolating with prolonged use.
“Voice-based chatbots may initially help mitigate loneliness but are associated with reduced social interactions and emotional rebound effects in prolonged use.”
— MIT Media Lab, 2024 Randomized Control Study
What Happens to Collaboration in the AI Age?
Collaborative sessions used to be messy, physical, and deeply human. Now, they’re often hybrid or digital. And with AI in the mix, the traditional group dynamic is shifting:
What’s New:
People come prepared with AI-generated ideas and plans.
AI features cluster notes, summarize thoughts, and propose actions.
Real-time team discussion sometimes turns into parallel prompting with ChatGPT.
What’s at Risk:
Shared ideation energy, the spark that comes from live, divergent thinking.
Informal micro-connections, jokes, empathy, those side chats that build trust.
Collective decision-making muscle, the skill of aligning, disagreeing, and iterating.
So, where does this leave us?
AI can accelerate workflows, generate ideas, and structure information in seconds, but it can’t replicate the emotional nuance, creative tension, or shared intuition that make human collaboration truly meaningful. As teams adjust to this new dynamic, the goal isn’t replacing collaborative sessions or workshops; it’s redesigning them with intention.
What We’re Learning:
AI is an incredible co-pilot, but not a team.
Workshops thrive on tension and emotional sync, all things AI can’t (yet) replicate.
Intentional facilitation matters more than ever.
Best Practices Emerging:
Assign roles: Use AI as Synthesizer, Critic, or Assistant, not the decider.
Add character: Give AI a tone to boost engagement, especially in workshops.
Stay human: Discuss AI output together, don’t just accept it.
Mixed formats: Use AI for prep, collaborate live for decisions.
Imagining What Comes Next 💫
While some of these practices are already emerging in the wild, others are still just signals. But what happens if we follow those signals further?
We’re just beginning to imagine the next generation of AI-augmented teamwork, where collaboration isn’t just faster, but more playful, immersive, and emotionally aware.
As I work with teams and tools shaped by AI, I keep asking: What would collaboration look like if we designed it from scratch, with AI entirely in the room?
Here are some possibilities I’m envisioning based on the trends I’m witnessing:
🤖 AI-Powered Workshop Rooms
Shared spaces with AI avatars could guide sessions in real-time, track mood, suggest pivots, and help maintain the flow. AI becomes less “tool” and more “presence.”
👾 Multiple AI Personas
What if we stopped treating AI as a single assistant and instead invited a whole cast of characters into the room? A Dreamer, a Skeptic, a Prioritizer, each bringing a voice or challenge to the table.
🎮 Workshops with NPC Logic
Team rituals might evolve to include AI assistants modeled like game NPCs to introduce structure, responsiveness, and momentum. These assistants could assign next steps, track engagement, or gently guide flow based on team energy, acting like a facilitator.
❤️ Emotional Layering
A bigger shift might be AI that responds to emotional cues. It might notice hesitation, silence, or friction, and gently prompt reflection. Instead of smoothing over the mess, it helps hold space for it.
If we want AI to support genuine collaboration, we’ll need to design for more than just results. We’ll need to design for emotion, presence, and meaning.
Final Thought 💭
AI is already changing how we think and decide. But the real opportunity isn’t just speed, it’s depth. The teams that thrive next will be the ones who don’t just use AI, but who choose to stay deeply, intentionally human alongside it.
Share your thoughts on collaboration and AI in the comments.
I'm curious to see what you think.
Thanks for reading! 🙃
Love the post Ileana. This trend will grow exponentially soon!
But to build great product or business, we do still need the messiness of human: emotion, empathy, taste, etc.
For me, AI makes my thinking sharp and preparation better, but to make things usable for people, I do still need people to bouncing ideas and getting feedbacks, because at the end of day, we build things for people.
But with help of AI, this process will be much more interesting with new possibilities. Love the idea of multiple persona, I think it makes the collaboration richer!