The influence of persona and conversational task on social interactions with a LLM-controlled embodied conversational agent

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kroczek, Leon O. H., May, Alexander, Hettenkofer, Selina, Ruider, Andreas, Ludwig, Bernd, Mühlberger, Andreas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kroczek, Leon O. H.
May, Alexander
Hettenkofer, Selina
Ruider, Andreas
Ludwig, Bernd
Mühlberger, Andreas
author_facet Kroczek, Leon O. H.
May, Alexander
Hettenkofer, Selina
Ruider, Andreas
Ludwig, Bernd
Mühlberger, Andreas
contents Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in conversational tasks. Embodying an LLM as a virtual human allows users to engage in face-to-face social interactions in Virtual Reality. However, the influence of person- and task-related factors in social interactions with LLM-controlled agents remains unclear. In this study, forty-six participants interacted with a virtual agent whose persona was manipulated as extravert or introvert in three different conversational tasks (small talk, knowledge test, convincing). Social-evaluation, emotional experience, and realism were assessed using ratings. Interactive engagement was measured by quantifying participants' words and conversational turns. Finally, we measured participants' willingness to ask the agent for help during the knowledge test. Our findings show that the extraverted agent was more positively evaluated, elicited a more pleasant experience and greater engagement, and was assessed as more realistic compared to the introverted agent. Whereas persona did not affect the tendency to ask for help, participants were generally more confident in the answer when they had help of the LLM. Variation of personality traits of LLM-controlled embodied virtual agents, therefore, affects social-emotional processing and behavior in virtual interactions. Embodied virtual agents allow the presentation of naturalistic social encounters in a virtual environment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_05653
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The influence of persona and conversational task on social interactions with a LLM-controlled embodied conversational agent
Kroczek, Leon O. H.
May, Alexander
Hettenkofer, Selina
Ruider, Andreas
Ludwig, Bernd
Mühlberger, Andreas
Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in conversational tasks. Embodying an LLM as a virtual human allows users to engage in face-to-face social interactions in Virtual Reality. However, the influence of person- and task-related factors in social interactions with LLM-controlled agents remains unclear. In this study, forty-six participants interacted with a virtual agent whose persona was manipulated as extravert or introvert in three different conversational tasks (small talk, knowledge test, convincing). Social-evaluation, emotional experience, and realism were assessed using ratings. Interactive engagement was measured by quantifying participants' words and conversational turns. Finally, we measured participants' willingness to ask the agent for help during the knowledge test. Our findings show that the extraverted agent was more positively evaluated, elicited a more pleasant experience and greater engagement, and was assessed as more realistic compared to the introverted agent. Whereas persona did not affect the tendency to ask for help, participants were generally more confident in the answer when they had help of the LLM. Variation of personality traits of LLM-controlled embodied virtual agents, therefore, affects social-emotional processing and behavior in virtual interactions. Embodied virtual agents allow the presentation of naturalistic social encounters in a virtual environment.
title The influence of persona and conversational task on social interactions with a LLM-controlled embodied conversational agent
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.05653