Sometimes You Need Facts, and Sometimes a Hug: Understanding Older Adults' Preferences for Explanations in LLM-Based Conversational AI Systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Mathur, Niharika, Zubatiy, Tamara, Rozga, Agata, Forlizzi, Jodi, Mynatt, Elizabeth
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Mathur, Niharika
Zubatiy, Tamara
Rozga, Agata
Forlizzi, Jodi
Mynatt, Elizabeth
author_facet Mathur, Niharika
Zubatiy, Tamara
Rozga, Agata
Forlizzi, Jodi
Mynatt, Elizabeth
contents Designing Conversational AI systems to support older adults requires these systems to explain their behavior in ways that align with older adults' preferences and context. While prior work has emphasized the importance of AI explainability in building user trust, relatively little is known about older adults' requirements and perceptions of AI-generated explanations. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory Speed Dating study with 23 older adults to understand their responses to contextually grounded AI explanations. Our findings reveal the highly context-dependent nature of explanations, shaped by conversational cues such as the content, tone, and framing of explanation. We also found that explanations are often interpreted as interactive, multi-turn conversational exchanges with the AI, and can be helpful in calibrating urgency, guiding actionability, and providing insights into older adults' daily lives for their family members. We conclude by discussing implications for designing context-sensitive and personalized explanations in Conversational AI systems.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_06697
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sometimes You Need Facts, and Sometimes a Hug: Understanding Older Adults' Preferences for Explanations in LLM-Based Conversational AI Systems
Mathur, Niharika
Zubatiy, Tamara
Rozga, Agata
Forlizzi, Jodi
Mynatt, Elizabeth
Human-Computer Interaction
Designing Conversational AI systems to support older adults requires these systems to explain their behavior in ways that align with older adults' preferences and context. While prior work has emphasized the importance of AI explainability in building user trust, relatively little is known about older adults' requirements and perceptions of AI-generated explanations. To address this gap, we conducted an exploratory Speed Dating study with 23 older adults to understand their responses to contextually grounded AI explanations. Our findings reveal the highly context-dependent nature of explanations, shaped by conversational cues such as the content, tone, and framing of explanation. We also found that explanations are often interpreted as interactive, multi-turn conversational exchanges with the AI, and can be helpful in calibrating urgency, guiding actionability, and providing insights into older adults' daily lives for their family members. We conclude by discussing implications for designing context-sensitive and personalized explanations in Conversational AI systems.
title Sometimes You Need Facts, and Sometimes a Hug: Understanding Older Adults' Preferences for Explanations in LLM-Based Conversational AI Systems
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06697