Should agentic conversational AI change how we think about ethics? Characterising an interactional ethics centred on respect

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Alberts, Lize, Keeling, Geoff, McCroskery, Amanda
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Alberts, Lize
Keeling, Geoff
McCroskery, Amanda
author_facet Alberts, Lize
Keeling, Geoff
McCroskery, Amanda
contents With the growing popularity of conversational agents based on large language models (LLMs), we need to ensure their behaviour is ethical and appropriate. Work in this area largely centres around the 'HHH' criteria: making outputs more helpful and honest, and avoiding harmful (biased, toxic, or inaccurate) statements. Whilst this semantic focus is useful when viewing LLM agents as mere mediums or output-generating systems, it fails to account for pragmatic factors that can make the same speech act seem more or less tactless or inconsiderate in different social situations. With the push towards agentic AI, wherein systems become increasingly proactive in chasing goals and performing actions in the world, considering the pragmatics of interaction becomes essential. We propose an interactional approach to ethics that is centred on relational and situational factors. We explore what it means for a system, as a social actor, to treat an individual respectfully in a (series of) interaction(s). Our work anticipates a set of largely unexplored risks at the level of situated social interaction, and offers practical suggestions to help agentic LLM technologies treat people well.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_09082
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Should agentic conversational AI change how we think about ethics? Characterising an interactional ethics centred on respect
Alberts, Lize
Keeling, Geoff
McCroskery, Amanda
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
68T42
H.5.2; I.2; I.2.1; J.4; J.5
With the growing popularity of conversational agents based on large language models (LLMs), we need to ensure their behaviour is ethical and appropriate. Work in this area largely centres around the 'HHH' criteria: making outputs more helpful and honest, and avoiding harmful (biased, toxic, or inaccurate) statements. Whilst this semantic focus is useful when viewing LLM agents as mere mediums or output-generating systems, it fails to account for pragmatic factors that can make the same speech act seem more or less tactless or inconsiderate in different social situations. With the push towards agentic AI, wherein systems become increasingly proactive in chasing goals and performing actions in the world, considering the pragmatics of interaction becomes essential. We propose an interactional approach to ethics that is centred on relational and situational factors. We explore what it means for a system, as a social actor, to treat an individual respectfully in a (series of) interaction(s). Our work anticipates a set of largely unexplored risks at the level of situated social interaction, and offers practical suggestions to help agentic LLM technologies treat people well.
title Should agentic conversational AI change how we think about ethics? Characterising an interactional ethics centred on respect
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction
68T42
H.5.2; I.2; I.2.1; J.4; J.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09082