Generative AI (GenAI) search tools are increasingly used for information seeking, yet their design tends to encourage cognitive offloading, which may lead to passive engagement, selective attention, and informational homogenization. Effective use requires metacognitive engagement to craft good prompts, verify AI outputs, and critically engage with information. We developed MetaCues, a novel GenAI-based interactive tool for information seeking that delivers metacognitive cues alongside AI responses and a note-taking interface to guide users' search and associated learning. Through an online study (N = 146), we compared MetaCues to a baseline tool without cues, across two broad search topics that required participants to explore diverse perspectives in order to make informed judgments. Preliminary findings regarding participants' search behavior show that MetaCues leads to increased confidence in attitudinal judgments about the search topic as well as broader inquiry, with the latter effect emerging primarily for the topic that was less controversial and with which participants had relatively less familiarity. Accordingly, we outline directions for future qualitative exploration of search interactions and inquiry patterns.

翻译：生成式AI搜索工具正越来越多地被用于信息检索，然而其设计倾向于鼓励认知卸载，这可能导致被动参与、选择性注意和信息同质化。有效使用需要元认知参与，以构建优质提示词、验证AI输出并批判性地参与信息处理。我们开发了MetaCues——一种基于生成式AI的新型交互式信息检索工具，它在AI响应旁边提供元认知提示，并配备笔记界面，以引导用户的搜索和相关学习。通过一项在线研究（N=146），我们跨两个需要参与者探索多元视角以做出明智判断的宽泛搜索主题，将MetaCues与不含提示的基线工具进行了比较。关于参与者搜索行为的初步结果显示，MetaCues能增强对搜索主题态度判断的信心并拓宽探究范围，其中后一效应主要出现在争议性较低且参与者相对不熟悉的主题上。据此，我们概述了未来对搜索交互和探究模式进行定性探索的方向。