2025/07/07 by Tim Gorichanaz, Gorichanaz, Tim
Computer Science · Medicine · Social Sciences · #AI in Service Interactions #Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Information Retrieval (cs.IR) #Misinformation and Its Impacts
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.05537
openalex publication_date 2025/07/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This study considers ChatGPT as an information source, investigating the information needs that people come to ChatGPT with and the information practices that ChatGPT supports, through a qualitative content analysis of 205 user vignettes. The findings show that ChatGPT is used in a range of life domains (home/family, work, leisure, etc.) and for a range of human needs (writing/editing, learning, simple programming tasks, etc.), constituting the information needs that people use ChatGPT to address. Related to these information needs, the findings show six categories of information practices that ChatGPT supports: Writing, Deciding, Identifying, Ideating, Talking, and Critiquing. This work suggests that, in the AI age, information need should be conceptualized not just as a matter of "getting questions answered" or even "making sense," but as skillfully coping in the world, a notion that includes both understanding and action. This study leads to numerous opportunities for future work at the junction of generative AI and information needs, seeking, use and experience.