Most AI systems today are designed to manage tasks and execute predefined steps. This makes them effective for process coordination but limited in their ability to engage in joint problem-solving with humans or contribute new ideas. We introduce MultiColleagues, a multi-agent conversational system that shows how AI agents can act as colleagues by conversing with each other, sharing new ideas, and actively involving users in collaborative ideation. In a within-subjects study with 20 participants, we compared MultiColleagues to a single-agent baseline. Results show that MultiColleagues fostered stronger perceptions of social presence, produced ideas rated significantly higher in quality and novelty, and encouraged deeper elaboration. These findings demonstrate the potential of AI agents to move beyond process partners toward colleagues that share intent, strengthen group dynamics, and collaborate with humans to advance ideas.

翻译：当前大多数AI系统被设计用于管理任务和执行预定义步骤，这使得它们在流程协调方面表现高效，但在与人类进行联合问题解决或贡献新想法方面能力有限。我们提出了MultiColleagues，一个多智能体对话系统，展示了AI智能体如何通过相互对话、分享新想法并积极邀请用户参与协作构思来扮演同事角色。在一项涉及20名参与者的组内研究中，我们将MultiColleagues与单智能体基线进行了比较。结果表明，MultiColleagues能够增强用户的社会临场感感知，产生在质量和新颖性上评分显著更高的想法，并促进更深入的细节阐述。这些发现证明了AI智能体有潜力超越流程合作伙伴的角色，成为能够共享意图、强化群体动态并与人类协作推进想法的同事。