Designing Transparent AI-Mediated Language Support for Intergenerational Family Communication
For families with linguistic differences, this work shows that transparent AI mediation enhances communication quality, addressing a socially sensitive context often overlooked in AI-mediated communication research.
GenSync, a chat interface with transparent translation (showing both original and interpreted messages), improved conversational quality, intimacy, and usability for intergenerational family communication compared to black-box translation, based on a study with 16 family dyads.
Intergenerational linguistic differences pose challenges to effective and intimate family communication. This paper presents GenSync, a chat-based interface that supports intergenerational understanding through different forms of translation visibility. We conducted a controlled within-subjects study with 16 family dyads (32 participants), comparing three conditions: no translation, black-box translation, and transparent translation that displays both original and interpreted messages. The results show that translation visibility plays a critical role in shaping conversational experiences. Transparent translation supported conversational quality, intimacy, and usability, while black-box translation often disrupted conversational flow. These findings position intergenerational language support as a form of interpretive mediation and contribute design implications for AI-mediated communication in socially sensitive contexts.