Knowledge can’t be disentangled from people. As AI knowledge systems mine vast volumes of work-related data, the knowledge that’s being extracted and surfaced is intrinsically linked to the people who create and use it. When these systems get embedded in organizational settings, the information that is brought to the foreground and the information that’s pushed to the periphery can influence how individuals see each other and how they see themselves at work. In this paper, we present the looking-glass metaphor and use it to conceptualize AI knowledge systems as systems that reflect and distort, expanding our view on transparency requirements, implications and challenges. We formulate transparency as a key mediator in shaping different ways of seeing, including seeing into the system, which unveils its capabilities, limitations and behavior, and seeing through the system, which shapes workers’ perceptions of their own contributions and others within the organization. Recognizing the sociotechnical nature of these systems, we identify three transparency dimensions necessary to realize the value of AI knowledge systems, namely system transparency, procedural transparency and transparency of outcomes. We discuss key challenges hindering the implementation of these forms of transparency, bringing to light the wider sociotechnical gap and highlighting directions for future Computer-supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Knowledge can’t be disentangled from people. As AI knowledge systems mine vast volumes of work-related data, the knowledge that’s being extracted and surfaced is intrinsically linked to the people who create and use it. When these systems get embedded in organizational settings, the information that is brought to the foreground and the information that’s pushed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":null,"msr_publishername":"","msr_publisher_other":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_edition":"","msr_editors":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_issue":"","msr_journal":"","msr_number":"","msr_organization":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_page_range_start":"","msr_page_range_end":"","msr_series":"","msr_volume":"","msr_copyright":"","msr_conference_name":"","msr_doi":"","msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_mag_id":"","msr_pubmed_id":"","msr_other_authors":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_award":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_institution":"","msr_host":"","msr_version":"","msr_duration":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_s2_match_type":"","msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_published_date":"2024-1-17","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_notes":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_conference_url":"","msr_journal_url":"","msr_s2_pdf_url":"","msr_year":0,"msr_citation_count":0,"msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_s2_match_confidence":0,"msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":true,"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_pub_ids":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":null,"footnotes":""},"msr-research-highlight":[],"research-area":[13556,13554,13555,13559],"msr-publication-type":[193726],"msr-publisher":[],"msr-focus-area":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-field-of-study":[268287,248485,248491,251194,247813,253714,255958],"msr-conference":[],"msr-journal":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-999801","msr-research-item","type-msr-research-item","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-artificial-intelligence","msr-research-area-human-computer-interaction","msr-research-area-search-information-retrieval","msr-research-area-social-sciences","msr-locale-en_us","msr-field-of-study-computer-supported-cooperative-work-12","msr-field-of-study-human-computer-interaction","msr-field-of-study-information-extraction","msr-field-of-study-knowledge-extraction","msr-field-of-study-knowledge-management","msr-field-of-study-sociotechnical-system","msr-field-of-study-transparency-behavior"],"msr_publishername":"","msr_edition":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_published_date":"2024-1-17","msr_host":"","msr_duration":"","msr_version":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_journal":"","msr_volume":"","msr_number":"","msr_editors":"","msr_series":"","msr_issue":"","msr_organization":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_notes":"","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":1,"msr_main_download":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_doi":"","msr_publication_uploader":[{"type":"url","viewUrl":"false","id":"false","title":"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2401.09410","label_id":"252679","label":0}],"msr_related_uploader":"","msr_citation_count":0,"msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_pdf_url":null,"msr_attachments":[],"msr-author-ordering":[{"type":"text","value":"Karina Cortiñas-Lorenzo","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Si\u00e2n Lindley","user_id":33651,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Si\u00e2n Lindley"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Ida Larsen-Ledet","user_id":42051,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Ida Larsen-Ledet"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Bhaskar Mitra","user_id":31257,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Bhaskar Mitra"}],"msr_impact_theme":[],"msr_research_lab":[199561,437514],"msr_event":[],"msr_group":[372368,1142579],"msr_project":[717493,580699],"publication":[],"video":[],"msr-tool":[],"msr_publication_type":"unpublished","related_content":{"projects":[{"ID":717493,"post_title":"The New Future of Work","post_name":"the-new-future-of-work","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2021-01-25 07:40:51","post_modified":"2026-02-23 14:40:27","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/the-new-future-of-work\/","post_excerpt":"This cross-company initiative is dedicated to creating solutions for a future of work that is meaningful, productive, and equitable. The focus has shifted from remote to hybrid to the role of artificial intelligence in changing work practices.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/717493"}]}},{"ID":580699,"post_title":"Project Alexandria","post_name":"alexandria","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2019-05-03 06:51:43","post_modified":"2025-02-27 05:34:29","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/alexandria\/","post_excerpt":"The aim of Project Alexandria is to automatically extract business knowledge into a single, consistent knowledge base, made up of the entities that really matter to each organisation. This powers human-centric experiences that enable people to work effectively with organisational knowledge.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/580699"}]}}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/999801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-research-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/999801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011132,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/999801\/revisions\/1011132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-highlight","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-highlight?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-publication-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-publication-type?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-publisher?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-focus-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-focus-area?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-field-of-study","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-field-of-study?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-conference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-conference?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-journal","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-journal?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=999801"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=999801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}