Related papers: Computers as Bad Social Actors: Dark Patterns and …
Persuasive designs become prevalent on smartphones, and an increasing number of users report having problematic smartphone use behaviours. Persuasive designs in smartphones might be accountable for the development and reinforcement of such…
Current "social acceptability" guidelines for interactive technologies advise against certain, seemingly problematic forms of interaction. Specifically, "suspenseful" interactions, characterized by visible manipulations and invisible…
As anthropomorphic agents (AI and robots) are increasingly used in society, empathy and trust between people and agents are becoming increasingly important. A better understanding of agents by people will help to improve the problems caused…
General-purpose conversational AI chatbots and AI companions increasingly provide young adolescents with emotionally supportive conversations, raising questions about how conversational style shapes anthropomorphism and emotional reliance.…
Conversation agents, commonly referred to as chatbots, are increasingly deployed in many domains to allow people to have a natural interaction while trying to solve a specific problem. Given their widespread use, it is important to provide…
Online, people often recount their experiences turning to conversational AI agents (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot) for mental health support -- going so far as to replace their therapists. These anecdotes suggest that AI agents have great…
Throughout the past decade, research in HCI has identified numerous instances of dark patterns in digital interfaces. These efforts have led to a well-fostered typology describing harmful strategies users struggle to navigate. However, an…
Conversational AI is increasingly deployed in emotionally charged and ethically sensitive interactions. Previous research has primarily concentrated on emotional benchmarks or static safety checks, overlooking how alignment unfolds in…
Conversational agents (CAs) are revolutionizing human-computer interaction by evolving from text-based chatbots to empathetic digital humans (DHs) capable of rich emotional expressions. This paper explores the integration of neural and…
Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies' social fluency are being integrated into commercial interactions. As tools such as OpenAI's assistant are integrated into platforms such as Shopify, Klarna, and Visa, understanding…
With the emergence of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agents, it is important to understand the mechanisms that influence users' experiences of these agents. We study a common tool in the designer's toolkit: conceptual…
Context: Dark patterns are user interface or other software designs that deceive or manipulate users to do things they would not otherwise do. Even though dark patterns have been under active research for a long time, including particularly…
AI systems have long been expected to interact with users, answering questions, generating content, and continuing (social) conversations. Agentic AI, however, breaks from this expectation, as its primary objective is workflow execution on…
Companion chatbots offer a potential solution to the growing epidemic of loneliness, but their impact on users' psychosocial well-being remains poorly understood, raising critical ethical questions about their deployment and design. This…
Online services pervasively employ manipulative designs (i.e., dark patterns) to influence users to purchase goods and subscriptions, spend more time on-site, or mindlessly accept the harvesting of their personal data. To protect users from…
Using robots in educational contexts has already shown to be beneficial for a student's learning and social behaviour. For levitating them to the next level of providing more effective and human-like tutoring, the ability to adapt to the…
As digital social platforms and mobile technologies are becoming more prevalent and robust, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in facilitating human communication will grow. This, in turn, will pave the way for the development of…
Voice assistants have recently achieved remarkable commercial success. However, the current generation of these devices is typically capable of only reactive interactions. In other words, interactions have to be initiated by the user, which…
Large language model-based AI companions are increasingly viewed by users as friends or romantic partners, leading to deep emotional bonds. However, they can generate biased, discriminatory, and harmful outputs. Recently, users are taking…
AI agents that take actions in their environment autonomously over extended time horizons require robust governance interventions to curb their potentially consequential risks. Prior proposals for governing AI agents primarily target…