The Invisible Mentor: Inferring User Actions from Screen Recordings to Recommend Better Workflows

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yan, Litao, Head, Andrew, Milne, Ken, Le, Vu, Gulwani, Sumit, Parnin, Chris, Murphy-Hill, Emerson
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yan, Litao
Head, Andrew
Milne, Ken
Le, Vu
Gulwani, Sumit
Parnin, Chris
Murphy-Hill, Emerson
author_facet Yan, Litao
Head, Andrew
Milne, Ken
Le, Vu
Gulwani, Sumit
Parnin, Chris
Murphy-Hill, Emerson
contents Many users struggle to notice when a more efficient workflow exists in feature-rich tools like Excel. Existing AI assistants offer help only after users describe their goals or problems, which can be effortful and imprecise. We present InvisibleMentor, a system that turns screen recordings of task completion into vision-grounded reflections on tasks. It detects issues such as repetitive edits and recommends more efficient alternatives based on observed behavior. Unlike prior systems that rely on logs, APIs, or user prompts, InvisibleMentor operates directly on screen recordings. It uses a two-stage pipeline: a vision-language model reconstructs actions and context, and a language model generates structured, high-fidelity suggestions. In evaluation, InvisibleMentor accurately identified inefficient workflows, and participants found its suggestions more actionable, tailored, and more helpful for learning and improvement compared to a prompt-based spreadsheet assistant.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_26557
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Invisible Mentor: Inferring User Actions from Screen Recordings to Recommend Better Workflows
Yan, Litao
Head, Andrew
Milne, Ken
Le, Vu
Gulwani, Sumit
Parnin, Chris
Murphy-Hill, Emerson
Human-Computer Interaction
H.5.2
Many users struggle to notice when a more efficient workflow exists in feature-rich tools like Excel. Existing AI assistants offer help only after users describe their goals or problems, which can be effortful and imprecise. We present InvisibleMentor, a system that turns screen recordings of task completion into vision-grounded reflections on tasks. It detects issues such as repetitive edits and recommends more efficient alternatives based on observed behavior. Unlike prior systems that rely on logs, APIs, or user prompts, InvisibleMentor operates directly on screen recordings. It uses a two-stage pipeline: a vision-language model reconstructs actions and context, and a language model generates structured, high-fidelity suggestions. In evaluation, InvisibleMentor accurately identified inefficient workflows, and participants found its suggestions more actionable, tailored, and more helpful for learning and improvement compared to a prompt-based spreadsheet assistant.
title The Invisible Mentor: Inferring User Actions from Screen Recordings to Recommend Better Workflows
topic Human-Computer Interaction
H.5.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26557