Collaborative AI aims at developing future systems where humans and artificial systems work together, taking different roles based on what they do best.

Collaboration requires the human and the AI system to work together as partners to achieve a common goal, sharing a mutual understanding of the abilities and respective roles of each other. Collaboration is a special type of coordination, in which the human and artificial partners work together using a shared understanding of each other's abilities, goals and current understanding.

This symbiosis requires development of techniques, methods and components which enable people and AI systems to work together effectively. In particular, the AI system must be able to assess the current situation, observe the users, predict their actions, anticipate their needs, and act accordingly. These skills generally require a tightly coupled perception-action integration in which the human and the AI system perceive and understand their partner and act accordingly.

Artificial systems can interact with humans and the environment through interactive displays, smart devices, and mechanical (robotic) effectors. Interactive collaboration can involve any of these, or multiple combinations operating in a distributed fashion.

There are a large number of applications where collaborative AI systems can be applied. Some examples are intelligent driver assistance systems; human-computer collaboration in management of crops; human-robot collaboration in manufacturing processes (often called cobots); collaborative AI systems for student assessment; social robots in public environments; and social robots for accompanying and approaching people.