Appropriate Reliance in Human-AI Collaborative Problem-Solving: The Role of Critical Thinking
Chenyu Hou, Gaoxia Zhu, Vidya K. Sudarshan · Computer-supported collaborative learning/The Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference · 2025
Reliance behaviors describe the frequencies and ways that people use AI tools for tasks such as problem-solving.There is a rising concern that students are over-reliant on Generative AI so that their critical thinking are being compromised.The notion of strategygraded reliance argues that reliance behaviors are affected by a cognitive process in which an individual evaluates AI's performance against human performance.We use critical thinking to capture this cognitive process.By analyzing 808 survey responses, including students' critical thinking disposition, critical thinking skills, and reliance behaviors during a collaborative problem-solving task among undergraduate students, we find that collaborative, reflective, and cautious use of Generative AI is positively related to critical thinking.Therefore, we further conclude that desirable reliance on human-AI collaborative problem-solving is characterized by collaborative, reflective, and cautious use of Generative AI.