TY - GEN
T1 - Generative AI in Virtual Reality Communities
T2 - 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2025
AU - Zhang, He
AU - Zha, Siyu
AU - Cai, Jie
AU - Wohn, Donghee Yvette
AU - Carroll, John M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
PY - 2025/4/26
Y1 - 2025/4/26
N2 - As immersive social platforms like VRChat increasingly adopt generative AI (GenAI) technologies, it becomes critical to understand how community members perceive, negotiate, and utilize these tools. In this preliminary study, we conducted a qualitative analysis of VRChat-related Discord discussions, employing a deductive coding framework to identify key themes related to AI-assisted content creation, intellectual property disputes, and evolving community norms. Our findings offer preliminary insights into the complex interplay between the community’s enthusiasm for AI-driven creativity and deep-rooted ethical and legal concerns. Users weigh issues of fair use, data ethics, intellectual property, and the role of community governance in establishing trust. By highlighting the tensions and trade-offs as users embrace new creative opportunities while seeking transparency, fair attribution, and equitable policies, this research offers valuable insights for designers, platform administrators, and policymakers aiming to foster responsible, inclusive, and ethically sound AI integration in future immersive virtual environments.
AB - As immersive social platforms like VRChat increasingly adopt generative AI (GenAI) technologies, it becomes critical to understand how community members perceive, negotiate, and utilize these tools. In this preliminary study, we conducted a qualitative analysis of VRChat-related Discord discussions, employing a deductive coding framework to identify key themes related to AI-assisted content creation, intellectual property disputes, and evolving community norms. Our findings offer preliminary insights into the complex interplay between the community’s enthusiasm for AI-driven creativity and deep-rooted ethical and legal concerns. Users weigh issues of fair use, data ethics, intellectual property, and the role of community governance in establishing trust. By highlighting the tensions and trade-offs as users embrace new creative opportunities while seeking transparency, fair attribution, and equitable policies, this research offers valuable insights for designers, platform administrators, and policymakers aiming to foster responsible, inclusive, and ethically sound AI integration in future immersive virtual environments.
KW - AI assistant
KW - Human-ai collaboration
KW - online community
KW - user experience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005770564&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=105005770564&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3706599.3720120
DO - 10.1145/3706599.3720120
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105005770564
T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
BT - CHI EA 2025 - Extended Abstracts of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
Y2 - 26 April 2025 through 1 May 2025
ER -