Generative AI in the Wild: Prospects, Challenges, and Strategies

Propelled by their remarkable capabilities to generate novel and engaging content, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies are disrupting traditional workflows in many industries. While prior research has examined GenAI from a techno-centric perspective, there is still a lack of understanding about how users perceive and utilize GenAI in real-world scenarios. To bridge this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with (N = 18) GenAI users in creative industries, investigating the human-GenAI co-creation process within a holistic LUA (Learning, Using and Assessing) framework. Our study uncovered an intriguingly complex landscape: Prospects - GenAI greatly fosters the co-creation between human expertise and GenAI capabilities, profoundly transforming creative workflows; Challenges - Meanwhile, users face substantial uncertainties and complexities arising from resource availability, tool usability, and regulatory compliance; Strategies - In response, users actively devise various strategies to overcome many of such challenges. Our study reveals key implications for the design of future GenAI tools.