Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2025

Abstract

Prewriting is the process of generating and organising ideas before a first draft. It consists of a combination of informal, iterative, and semi-structured strategies such as visual diagramming, which poses a challenge for collaborating with large language models (LLMs) in a turn-taking conversational manner. We present Polymind, a visual diagramming tool that leverages multiple LLM-powered agents to support prewriting. The system features a parallel collaboration workflow in place of the turn-taking conversational interactions. It defines multiple ''microtasks'' to simulate group collaboration scenarios such as collaborative writing and group brainstorming. Instead of repetitively prompting a chatbot for various purposes, Polymind enables users to orchestrate multiple microtasks simultaneously. Users can configure and delegate customised microtasks, and manage their microtasks by specifying task requirements and toggling visibility and initiative. Our evaluation revealed that, compared to ChatGPT, users had more customizability over collaboration with Polymind, and were thus able to quickly expand personalised writing ideas during prewriting.

Discipline

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Programming Languages and Compilers

Research Areas

Intelligent Systems and Optimization

Areas of Excellence

Digital transformation

Publication

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

Volume

9

Issue

7

First Page

1

Last Page

29

ISSN

2573-0142

Identifier

10.1145/3757497

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Copyright Owner and License

ACM

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1145/3757497

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