Perceptions on Authenticity in Chat Bots

Abstract

In 1950, Alan Turing proposed his concept of universal machines, emphasizing their abilities to learn, think, and behave in a human-like manner. Today, the existence of intelligent agents imitating human characteristics is more relevant than ever. They have expanded to numerous aspects of daily life. Yet, while they are often seen as work simplifiers, their interactions usually lack social competence. In particular, they miss what one may call authenticity. In the study presented in this paper, we explore how characteristics of social intelligence may enhance future agent implementations. Interviews and an open question survey with experts from different fields have led to a shared understanding of what it would take to make intelligent virtual agents, in particular messaging agents (i.e., chat bots), more authentic. Results suggest that showcasing a transparent purpose, learning from experience, anthropomorphizing, human-like conversational behavior, and coherence, are guiding characteristics for agent authenticity and should consequently allow for and support a better coexistence of artificial intelligence technology with its respective users.

Artificial Intelligence in Conversational Agents

“…One aspect of UX in the context of AI is how human-like chatbots should behave, and how this a ects UX. Although previous studies have explored how chatbots could evolve to converse or behave in a human-like manner [2,21,27,30,33,56], there is no consensus on whether this is the correct way to move forward from a UX perspective of interacting with chatbots [37,43,48].…”

“…However, studies have shown that users are attracted to human-like chatbots [2] and AI that allows for a human-like use of language [21]. Whether a chatbot should imitate human behavior or have their own personality could be dependent on context [37].…”

“…Closely related to previous considerations is the aspect of creating trust in chatbots, which in part depends both on the design of personality and on the design of the conversation. Factors that can contribute to users trusting chatbots are: (i) small talk [3,44]; (ii) a chatbot being open and transparent about being a machine [33]; (iii) the ability to react and respond to signals that indicate emotional and social behavior [30]; and (iv) an authentic chatbot that matches the user on a personal level and in conversation [37]. In this case, authentic means that the chatbot is aware of and capable of remaining in context, that it is transparent and can act as a person with values, attitude and culture [37].…”

“…In the process of designing chatbots, some argue that a chatbot should be given human-like behavior [2,40]; however, there is a lack of consensus on whether this is desirable [37,43,48]. On one hand, giving a chatbot a personality is widely viewed as an important part of its design, as it appeals to users in terms of creating engagement, encouraging playfulness, and building trust [21,25,33].…”

Using Theory of Mind to Assess Users’ Sense of Agency in Social Chatbots

“…However, with this constant introduction of new chatbots and new supporting services, the field is losing sight on what is necessary to build a chatbot that the user interacts with as if it has a mind of its own: The ultimate goal when it comes to social bots. Neurerer and colleagues [5] state that making a conversational agent acceptable to users is primarily a social, not only a technical, problem to solve. Therefore, a chatbot should not only have the capability of understanding what the user wants, but have the social characteristics to converse with the user as if it were completely autonomous.…”