"ChatGPT, what am I missing?": Designing AI Workflows around Professional Task Structure to Shape Analytic AI Use

Abstract

General-purpose AI lets users choose what support to request, but leaves them to structure the support a professional task requires. We examine how interactive workflows can embed professional task structure without prescribing how users engage with AI. We designed two scaffolded interfaces around the same negotiation scaffold: one presented a completed AI analysis, while the other supported user-directed, incremental development. A four-condition randomized experiment with 800 participants compared these interfaces with no-AI and an AI chat interface. AI-supported conditions improved preparation coverage over unaided work; the scaffolded workflows further improved coverage over chat. Although the scaffolded workflows produced similar coverage, the user-directed workflow elicited a broader repertoire of analytic requests and lower subjective effort. Professional scaffolding therefore depends not only on displayed structure but on how workflows organize users'engagement with it. Effective professional AI must structure how users and AI build analysis together.