Mapping Human–AI Relationships: Intellectual Structure and Conceptual Insights

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into organizational processes to enhance efficiency, decision-making, and innovation, aligning AI systems with human teams remains a major challenge to realizing their full potential. Although academic interest is growing, the conceptual landscape of human–AI relationships remains fragmented. This study employs a bibliometric co-word analysis of 4093 peer-reviewed documents indexed in Scopus to map the intellectual structure of the field. Using a strategic diagram, we assess the relevance and maturity of five major thematic clusters identified in the field. Results highlight the structural dominance of Human–AI Interactions (Centrality: 1595), Human–AI Collaboration (1150), and Teaming and Augmentation (1131) as foundational themes, while Conversational AI (655), and Ethics and Responsibility (431) emerge as specialized domains. Based on the analysis, we propose a conceptual framework that classifies human–AI relationships into four categories—symbiotic, augmented, assisted, and substituted intelligence—according to the level of AI autonomy and human involvement. Rather than providing prescriptive guidance for practitioners, this framework is intended primarily as a scholarly contribution that clarifies the conceptual landscape and supports future theoretical and empirical work. While potential implications for organizational contexts can be inferred, these are secondary to the study’s main goal of offering a research-based synthesis of the field. Ultimately, our work contributes to academic consolidation by offering conceptual clarity and highlighting opportunities for future research, while underscoring the critical need for ethical alignment and interdisciplinary dialogue to guide future AI adoption.

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