Professor

This paper develops the concept of hybrid interpersonal communication to explain situations in which face-to-face verbal and nonverbal interaction intertwines with digitally mediated exchanges, online content, and generative artificial intelligence during physical co-presence. Interpersonal communication provides the theoretical foundation, with particular emphasis on its relational dimension, listening, and coordinated participation. Through conceptual synthesis, the paper brings together approaches to interpersonal and computer-mediated communication, connected presence, multicommunicating, and AI-mediated communication. The argument proceeds from general communication processes to the specific features of physical co-presence in digital environments. The proposed concept is delineated through the temporal overlap of activities, communicative availability, the visibility of digital activity, and the transfer of content into a shared conversation. The paper distinguishes integrative, parallel, and disruptive patterns as theoretical types of communication episodes. The paper develops propositions about relationships among participants' expectations, access to content, coordination of attention, and attribution of authority to AI-generated responses. The paper contributes by integrating existing approaches at the level of the face-to-face encounter while distinguishing the digital mediation of human messages from direct human–AI interaction. The concept and typology constitute a theoretical proposal open to further development and empirical testing.