Thomas W. Malone
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Previous Organizations / Institutes
The organizations / institutes from the scholar's other articles in the past ten years
Thomas W. Malone has a total of 83 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Jaeyoon Song
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
4 shared publications - Steven R. Rick
NVIDIA, Santa Clara, California, USA
4 shared publications Haoran Wen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3 shared publications- Ming Yin
Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA
3 shared publications - Robert Laubacher
MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, Cambridge, USA
3 shared publications - Zahra Ashktorab
IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
3 shared publications
Latest Publications
- Open Access
- 2 November 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-3
Demonstrating Graphionale: How Graph Visualizations of LLM Rationales Affect Human Decision Making
- 2 November 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-3
Open AccessDemonstrating Graphionale: How Graph Visualizations of LLM Rationales Affect Human Decision Making
- Open Access
- 2 November 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-21
Graphionale: How Graph Visualizations of LLM Rationales Affect Human Decision Making
- 2 November 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 1-21
Open AccessGraphionale: How Graph Visualizations of LLM Rationales Affect Human Decision Making
- 1 June 2026
- Published by Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in Service Science
- Vol. 18 (2) , 79-95
Vehicle-Based Multi-Services for Future Smart Cities
Vehicles are crucial for sustaining socioeconomic activity and improving quality of life in modern cities by offering diverse services. These include passenger mobility, goods delivery, information acquisition, and acting as mobile servers such as food trucks and mobile lockers. At the same time, they also contribute to traffic congestion and air pollution. This tension fosters the rise of urban resource-conserving and sustainable service solutions. In this article, we introduce the concept of “Vehicle-Based Multi-Services” (VeMuS), in which a single vehicle offers multiple services simultaneously. Drawing on practical use cases, we examine service classification and integration for vehicles and the potential for the synergy effect and multitasking. We construct a general framework to study VeMuS and propose research questions in three key components: VeMuS design, VeMuS operations, and VeMuS evaluation. This article highlights the potential of VeMuS to create more sustainable, efficient, and adaptable urban services for future smart cities. Funding: This research is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. The Mens, Manus, and Machina (M3S) is an interdisciplinary research group (IRG) of the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) centre. H. Sun is in part supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72301179], the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [Grant 2025A1515012815], and the “Pengcheng Peacock Project” of Shenzhen University.
- 1 June 2026
- Published by Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in Service Science
- Vol. 18 (2) , 79-95
Vehicle-Based Multi-Services for Future Smart Cities
Vehicles are crucial for sustaining socioeconomic activity and improving quality of life in modern cities by offering diverse services. These include passenger mobility, goods delivery, information acquisition, and acting as mobile servers such as food trucks and mobile lockers. At the same time, they also contribute to traffic congestion and air pollution. This tension fosters the rise of urban resource-conserving and sustainable service solutions. In this article, we introduce the concept of “Vehicle-Based Multi-Services” (VeMuS), in which a single vehicle offers multiple services simultaneously. Drawing on practical use cases, we examine service classification and integration for vehicles and the potential for the synergy effect and multitasking. We construct a general framework to study VeMuS and propose research questions in three key components: VeMuS design, VeMuS operations, and VeMuS evaluation. This article highlights the potential of VeMuS to create more sustainable, efficient, and adaptable urban services for future smart cities. Funding: This research is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. The Mens, Manus, and Machina (M3S) is an interdisciplinary research group (IRG) of the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) centre. H. Sun is in part supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72301179], the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [Grant 2025A1515012815], and the “Pengcheng Peacock Project” of Shenzhen University.
- Open Access
- 30 April 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 10 (2) , 1
Corrigendum: Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability
This is a corrigendum for the article "Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability" published in Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 9, 7, Article CSCW332 (November 2025), 24 pages (original DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3757513).
- 30 April 2026
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 10 (2) , 1
Open AccessCorrigendum: Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability
This is a corrigendum for the article "Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability" published in Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 9, 7, Article CSCW332 (November 2025), 24 pages (original DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3757513).
- Open Access
- 17 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 168-173
Augmenting Collaborative Problem-Solving: Exploring the Design and Use of GenAI for Groupwork
- 17 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 168-173
Open AccessAugmenting Collaborative Problem-Solving: Exploring the Design and Use of GenAI for Groupwork
- Open Access
- 16 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 9 (7) , 1-24
Togedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability
Scheduling is a perennial-and often challenging-problem for many groups. Existing tools are mostly static, showing an identical set of choices to everyone, regardless of the current status of attendees' inputs and preferences. In this paper, we propose Togedule, an adaptive scheduling tool that uses large language models to dynamically adjust the pool of choices and their presentation format. With the initial prototype, we conducted a formative study (N=10) and identified the potential benefits and risks of such an adaptive scheduling tool. Then, after enhancing the system, we conducted two controlled experiments, one each for attendees and organizers (total N=66). For each experiment, we compared scheduling with verbal messages, shared calendars, or Togedule. Results show that Togedule significantly reduces the cognitive load of attendees indicating their availability and improves the speed and quality of the decisions made by organizers.
- 16 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 9 (7) , 1-24
Open AccessTogedule: Scheduling Meetings with Large Language Models and Adaptive Representations of Group Availability
Scheduling is a perennial-and often challenging-problem for many groups. Existing tools are mostly static, showing an identical set of choices to everyone, regardless of the current status of attendees' inputs and preferences. In this paper, we propose Togedule, an adaptive scheduling tool that uses large language models to dynamically adjust the pool of choices and their presentation format. With the initial prototype, we conducted a formative study (N=10) and identified the potential benefits and risks of such an adaptive scheduling tool. Then, after enhancing the system, we conducted two controlled experiments, one each for attendees and organizers (total N=66). For each experiment, we compared scheduling with verbal messages, shared calendars, or Togedule. Results show that Togedule significantly reduces the cognitive load of attendees indicating their availability and improves the speed and quality of the decisions made by organizers.
- Open Access
- 16 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 9 (7) , 1-27
Interaction Configurations and Prompt Guidance in Conversational AI for Question Answering in Human-AI Teams
Understanding the dynamics of human-AI interaction in question answering is crucial for enhancing collaborative efficiency. Extending from our initial formative study, which revealed challenges in human utilization of conversational AI support, we designed two configurations for prompt guidance: a Nudging approach, where the AI suggests potential responses for human agents, and a Highlight strategy, emphasizing crucial parts of reference documents to aid human responses. Through two controlled experiments, the first involving 31 participants and the second involving 106 participants, we compared these configurations against traditional human-only approaches, both with and without AI assistance. Our findings suggest that effective human-AI collaboration can enhance response quality, though merely combining human and AI efforts does not ensure improved outcomes. In particular, the Nudging configuration was shown to help improve the quality of the output when compared to AI alone. This paper delves into the development of these prompt guidance paradigms, offering insights for refining human-AI collaborations in conversational question-answering contexts and contributing to a broader understanding of human perceptions and expectations in AI partnerships.
- 16 October 2025
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
- Vol. 9 (7) , 1-27
Open AccessInteraction Configurations and Prompt Guidance in Conversational AI for Question Answering in Human-AI Teams
Understanding the dynamics of human-AI interaction in question answering is crucial for enhancing collaborative efficiency. Extending from our initial formative study, which revealed challenges in human utilization of conversational AI support, we designed two configurations for prompt guidance: a Nudging approach, where the AI suggests potential responses for human agents, and a Highlight strategy, emphasizing crucial parts of reference documents to aid human responses. Through two controlled experiments, the first involving 31 participants and the second involving 106 participants, we compared these configurations against traditional human-only approaches, both with and without AI assistance. Our findings suggest that effective human-AI collaboration can enhance response quality, though merely combining human and AI efforts does not ensure improved outcomes. In particular, the Nudging configuration was shown to help improve the quality of the output when compared to AI alone. This paper delves into the development of these prompt guidance paradigms, offering insights for refining human-AI collaborations in conversational question-answering contexts and contributing to a broader understanding of human perceptions and expectations in AI partnerships.
- Top Cited PapersOpen Access
- 28 October 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature Human Behaviour
- Vol. 8 (12) , 2293-2303
When combinations of humans and AI are useful: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Inspired by the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to augment humans, researchers have studied human–AI systems involving different tasks, systems and populations. Despite such a large body of work, we lack a broad conceptual understanding of when combinations of humans and AI are better than either alone. Here we addressed this question by conducting a preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis of 106 experimental studies reporting 370 effect sizes. We searched an interdisciplinary set of databases (the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library, the Web of Science and the Association for Information Systems eLibrary) for studies published between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2023. Each study was required to include an original human-participants experiment that evaluated the performance of humans alone, AI alone and human–AI combinations. First, we found that, on average, human–AI combinations performed significantly worse than the best of humans or AI alone (Hedges’ g = −0.23; 95% confidence interval, −0.39 to −0.07). Second, we found performance losses in tasks that involved making decisions and significantly greater gains in tasks that involved creating content. Finally, when humans outperformed AI alone, we found performance gains in the combination, but when AI outperformed humans alone, we found losses. Limitations of the evidence assessed here include possible publication bias and variations in the study designs analysed. Overall, these findings highlight the heterogeneity of the effects of human–AI collaboration and point to promising avenues for improving human–AI systems.
- 28 October 2024
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature Human Behaviour
- Vol. 8 (12) , 2293-2303
Top Cited PapersOpen AccessWhen combinations of humans and AI are useful: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Inspired by the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to augment humans, researchers have studied human–AI systems involving different tasks, systems and populations. Despite such a large body of work, we lack a broad conceptual understanding of when combinations of humans and AI are better than either alone. Here we addressed this question by conducting a preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis of 106 experimental studies reporting 370 effect sizes. We searched an interdisciplinary set of databases (the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library, the Web of Science and the Association for Information Systems eLibrary) for studies published between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2023. Each study was required to include an original human-participants experiment that evaluated the performance of humans alone, AI alone and human–AI combinations. First, we found that, on average, human–AI combinations performed significantly worse than the best of humans or AI alone (Hedges’ g = −0.23; 95% confidence interval, −0.39 to −0.07). Second, we found performance losses in tasks that involved making decisions and significantly greater gains in tasks that involved creating content. Finally, when humans outperformed AI alone, we found performance gains in the combination, but when AI outperformed humans alone, we found losses. Limitations of the evidence assessed here include possible publication bias and variations in the study designs analysed. Overall, these findings highlight the heterogeneity of the effects of human–AI collaboration and point to promising avenues for improving human–AI systems.
- Open Access
- 1 October 2024
- Published by SAGE Publications in Collective Intelligence
- Vol. 3 (4)
Supermind Ideator: How scaffolding Human-AI collaboration can increase creativity
Previous efforts to support creative problem-solving have included (a) techniques such as brainstorming and design thinking to stimulate creative ideas, and (b) software tools to record and share these ideas. Now, generative AI technologies can suggest new ideas that might never have occurred to the users, and users can then select from these ideas or use them to stimulate even more ideas. To explore these possibilities, we developed a system called Supermind Ideator that uses a large language model (LLM) and adds prompts, fine tuning, and a specialized user interface in order to help users reformulate their problem statements and generate possible solutions. This provides scaffolding to guide users through a set of creative problem-solving techniques, including some techniques specifically intended to help generate innovative ideas about designing groups of people and/or computers (“superminds”). In an experimental study, we found that people using Supermind Ideator generated significantly more innovative ideas than those generated by people using ChatGPT or people working alone. Thus our results suggest that the benefits of using LLMs for creative problem-solving can be substantially enhanced by scaffolding designed specifically for this purpose.
- 1 October 2024
- Published by SAGE Publications in Collective Intelligence
- Vol. 3 (4)
Open AccessSupermind Ideator: How scaffolding Human-AI collaboration can increase creativity
Previous efforts to support creative problem-solving have included (a) techniques such as brainstorming and design thinking to stimulate creative ideas, and (b) software tools to record and share these ideas. Now, generative AI technologies can suggest new ideas that might never have occurred to the users, and users can then select from these ideas or use them to stimulate even more ideas. To explore these possibilities, we developed a system called Supermind Ideator that uses a large language model (LLM) and adds prompts, fine tuning, and a specialized user interface in order to help users reformulate their problem statements and generate possible solutions. This provides scaffolding to guide users through a set of creative problem-solving techniques, including some techniques specifically intended to help generate innovative ideas about designing groups of people and/or computers (“superminds”). In an experimental study, we found that people using Supermind Ideator generated significantly more innovative ideas than those generated by people using ChatGPT or people working alone. Thus our results suggest that the benefits of using LLMs for creative problem-solving can be substantially enhanced by scaffolding designed specifically for this purpose.
- Open Access
- 27 June 2024
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 18-28
Supermind Ideator: How Scaffolding Human-AI Collaboration Can Increase Creativity
Previous efforts to support creative problem-solving have included (a) techniques such as brainstorming and design thinking to stimulate creative ideas, and (b) software tools to record and share these ideas. Now, generative AI technologies can suggest new ideas that might never have occurred to the users, and users can then select from these ideas or use them to stimulate even more ideas. To explore these possibilities, we developed a system called Supermind Ideator that uses a large language model (LLM) and adds prompts, fine tuning, and a specialized user interface in order to help users reformulate their problem statements and generate possible solutions. This provides scaffolding to guide users through a set of creative problem-solving techniques, including some techniques specifically intended to help generate innovative ideas about designing groups of people and/or computers (“superminds”). In an experimental study, we found that people using Supermind Ideator generated significantly more innovative ideas than those generated by people using ChatGPT or people working alone. Thus our results suggest that the benefits of using LLMs for creative problem-solving can be substantially enhanced by scaffolding designed specifically for this purpose.
- 27 June 2024
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- p. 18-28
Open AccessSupermind Ideator: How Scaffolding Human-AI Collaboration Can Increase Creativity
Previous efforts to support creative problem-solving have included (a) techniques such as brainstorming and design thinking to stimulate creative ideas, and (b) software tools to record and share these ideas. Now, generative AI technologies can suggest new ideas that might never have occurred to the users, and users can then select from these ideas or use them to stimulate even more ideas. To explore these possibilities, we developed a system called Supermind Ideator that uses a large language model (LLM) and adds prompts, fine tuning, and a specialized user interface in order to help users reformulate their problem statements and generate possible solutions. This provides scaffolding to guide users through a set of creative problem-solving techniques, including some techniques specifically intended to help generate innovative ideas about designing groups of people and/or computers (“superminds”). In an experimental study, we found that people using Supermind Ideator generated significantly more innovative ideas than those generated by people using ChatGPT or people working alone. Thus our results suggest that the benefits of using LLMs for creative problem-solving can be substantially enhanced by scaffolding designed specifically for this purpose.