Timing Takes Centre Stage in Human–AI Innovation at OUI Conference

Does it matter when artificial intelligence enters the creative process? An emerging research agenda presented at OUI 2026 examines timing as a new design parameter in Human–AI innovation.

That question framed a contribution by Dr Victor (Vik) Perez, Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Hub (EEH) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), at the 23rd Annual Open and User Innovation (OUI) Conference, held on 27–28 July 2026.

Hosted at Harvard Business School, the conference brought together the Open and User Innovation Society, the HBS AI Institute and an international research community examining how artificial intelligence is changing innovation and creativity. The 2026 conference focused on Human–AI Co-Creation and the Future of User Innovation.

Within the Problem Solving and Creativity in Innovation track, the contribution introduced “Timing as a Design Parameter in Human–AI Innovation: Shaping Cognitive Processes and Idea Quality.”

The work questions a common assumption in AI-supported innovation: does earlier access to AI necessarily lead to better innovation outcomes? It considers whether the timing of AI input could shape what people notice, explore and ultimately create.

The underlying perspective places AI within the cognitive environment itself, where its presence may influence how human thinking unfolds.

This direction forms part of Perez’s broader Cognitive Conditions Perspective, which examines how the environments in which cognition takes place can shape attention, judgement, learning and human capability.

“The timing of AI may prove as consequential as its capabilities. If intelligent systems can influence the direction of human thought, then when they enter the creative process becomes a design question in its own right,” he said.

The contribution reflects XJTLU’s engagement with emerging questions around artificial intelligence and innovation, bringing a human-centred cognitive perspective to international discussions on how people and intelligent systems will increasingly think, create and innovate together.

By Victor (Vik) Pérez

Edited by Xiaolu Jiang