AI agency vs. human agency: understanding human–AI interactions on TikTok and their implications for user engagement

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has vastly reshaped user experiences on social media. AI-powered media use and its outcomes largely depend how users collaborate with AI that exercises agency. Through in-depth interviews TikTok users, this study investigates when using such dynamics shape engagement. We found are receptive to personalized enabled by machine However, influencing each other, agency also led user–AI synergy. Users deliberately influence content curation algorithms make them cater more precisely their needs; facilitates users’ creation networking. Such AI–user collaboration significantly influences medium engagement social-interactive These findings advance our understanding of the between human and, thus, transforms