A Design Space for Intelligent Agents in Mixed-Initiative Visual Analytics

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Stähle, Tobias, de Haar, Matthijs Jansen op, Boyer, Sophia, Sevastjanova, Rita, Narechania, Arpit, El-Assady, Mennatallah
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Stähle, Tobias
de Haar, Matthijs Jansen op
Boyer, Sophia
Sevastjanova, Rita
Narechania, Arpit
El-Assady, Mennatallah
author_facet Stähle, Tobias
de Haar, Matthijs Jansen op
Boyer, Sophia
Sevastjanova, Rita
Narechania, Arpit
El-Assady, Mennatallah
contents Mixed-initiative visual analytics (VA) systems, where human and artificial intelligence (AI) agents collaborate as equal partners during analysis, represented a paradigm shift in human-computer interaction. With recent advances in AI, these systems have seen an increase in sophisticated software agents that have improved task planning, reasoning, and completion capabilities. However, while existing work characterizes agent interplay and communication strategies, there is a limited understanding of the overarching design principles for intelligent agents. Through a systematic review of 90 systems (and 207 unique agents), we propose a design space of intelligent agents comprising six dimensions that collectively characterize an agent's perception, environmental understanding, action capability, and communication strategies. We contribute a novel framework for researchers and designers to explore various design choices for new systems and to situate a system in the current landscape. We conclude with future research opportunities for intelligent agents in mixed-initiative VA systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_23372
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Design Space for Intelligent Agents in Mixed-Initiative Visual Analytics
Stähle, Tobias
de Haar, Matthijs Jansen op
Boyer, Sophia
Sevastjanova, Rita
Narechania, Arpit
El-Assady, Mennatallah
Human-Computer Interaction
Mixed-initiative visual analytics (VA) systems, where human and artificial intelligence (AI) agents collaborate as equal partners during analysis, represented a paradigm shift in human-computer interaction. With recent advances in AI, these systems have seen an increase in sophisticated software agents that have improved task planning, reasoning, and completion capabilities. However, while existing work characterizes agent interplay and communication strategies, there is a limited understanding of the overarching design principles for intelligent agents. Through a systematic review of 90 systems (and 207 unique agents), we propose a design space of intelligent agents comprising six dimensions that collectively characterize an agent's perception, environmental understanding, action capability, and communication strategies. We contribute a novel framework for researchers and designers to explore various design choices for new systems and to situate a system in the current landscape. We conclude with future research opportunities for intelligent agents in mixed-initiative VA systems.
title A Design Space for Intelligent Agents in Mixed-Initiative Visual Analytics
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.23372