Designing Explainable Conversational Agentic Systems for Guaran\'i Speakers
Abstract
Although artificial intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems are often presented as universal solutions, their design remains predominantly text-first, underserving primarily oral languages and indigenous communities. This position paper uses Guaran\'i, an official and widely spoken language of Paraguay, as a case study to argue that language support in AI remains insufficient unless it aligns with lived oral practices. We propose an alternative to the standard "text-to-speech" pipeline, proposing instead an oral-first multi-agent architecture. By decoupling Guaran\'i natural language understanding from dedicated agents for conversation state and community-led governance, we demonstrate a technical framework that respects indigenous data sovereignty and diglossia. Our work moves beyond mere recognition to focus on turn-taking, repair, and shared context as the primary locus of interaction. We conclude that for AI to be truly culturally grounded, it must shift from adapting oral languages to text-centric systems to treating spoken conversation as a first-class design requirement, ensuring digital ecosystems empower rather than overlook diverse linguistic practices.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.05743,
title = {Designing Explainable Conversational Agentic Systems for Guaran\'i Speakers},
author = {Samantha Adorno and Akshata Kishore Moharir and Ratna Kandala},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.05743},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Accepted at HCXAI conference, ACM CHI 2026