Understanding Public Perceptions of AI Conversational Agents: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Liu, Zihan, Li, Han, Chen, Anfan, Zhang, Renwen, Lee, Yi-Chieh
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Liu, Zihan
Li, Han
Chen, Anfan
Zhang, Renwen
Lee, Yi-Chieh
author_facet Liu, Zihan
Li, Han
Chen, Anfan
Zhang, Renwen
Lee, Yi-Chieh
contents Conversational Agents (CAs) have increasingly been integrated into everyday life, sparking significant discussions on social media. While previous research has examined public perceptions of AI in general, there is a notable lack in research focused on CAs, with fewer investigations into cultural variations in CA perceptions. To address this gap, this study used computational methods to analyze about one million social media discussions surrounding CAs and compared people's discourses and perceptions of CAs in the US and China. We find Chinese participants tended to view CAs hedonically, perceived voice-based and physically embodied CAs as warmer and more competent, and generally expressed positive emotions. In contrast, US participants saw CAs more functionally, with an ambivalent attitude. Warm perception was a key driver of positive emotions toward CAs in both countries. We discussed practical implications for designing contextually sensitive and user-centric CAs to resonate with various users' preferences and needs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_16039
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Understanding Public Perceptions of AI Conversational Agents: A Cross-Cultural Analysis
Liu, Zihan
Li, Han
Chen, Anfan
Zhang, Renwen
Lee, Yi-Chieh
Human-Computer Interaction
Computation and Language
H.5.2
Conversational Agents (CAs) have increasingly been integrated into everyday life, sparking significant discussions on social media. While previous research has examined public perceptions of AI in general, there is a notable lack in research focused on CAs, with fewer investigations into cultural variations in CA perceptions. To address this gap, this study used computational methods to analyze about one million social media discussions surrounding CAs and compared people's discourses and perceptions of CAs in the US and China. We find Chinese participants tended to view CAs hedonically, perceived voice-based and physically embodied CAs as warmer and more competent, and generally expressed positive emotions. In contrast, US participants saw CAs more functionally, with an ambivalent attitude. Warm perception was a key driver of positive emotions toward CAs in both countries. We discussed practical implications for designing contextually sensitive and user-centric CAs to resonate with various users' preferences and needs.
title Understanding Public Perceptions of AI Conversational Agents: A Cross-Cultural Analysis
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Computation and Language
H.5.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.16039