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Chatbots are used in many applications, e.g., automated agents, smart home assistants, interactive characters in online games, etc. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure they do not behave in undesired manners, providing offensive or toxic…
A chatbot's personality design is key to interaction quality. As chatbots evolved from rule-based systems to those powered by large language models (LLMs), evaluating the effectiveness of their personality design has become increasingly…
Suicide is recognized as one of the most serious concerns in the modern society. Suicide causes tragedy that affects countries, communities, and families. There are many factors that lead to suicidal ideations. Early detection of suicidal…
People experiencing mental health crises frequently turn to open-ended generative AI (GenAI) chatbots for support. However, rather than providing immediate assistance, some GenAI chatbots are designed to respond to crisis situations in ways…
Generative AI systems are increasingly embedded in everyday life, yet empirical understanding of how psychological risk associated with AI use emerges, is experienced, and is regulated by users remains limited. We present a large-scale…
Objective: This study aims to develop and validate an evaluation framework to ensure the safety and reliability of mental health chatbots, which are increasingly popular due to their accessibility, human-like interactions, and context-aware…
Current open-domain conversational models can easily be made to talk in inadequate ways. Online learning from conversational feedback given by the conversation partner is a promising avenue for a model to improve and adapt, so as to…
LLMs promise to overcome limitations of rule-based mental health chatbots through improved natural language capabilities, yet their ability to deliver evidence-based psychological interventions remains largely unverified because evaluations…
Millions of users form emotional attachments to AI companions like Character AI, Replika, and ChatGPT. When these relationships end through model updates, safety interventions, or platform shutdowns, users receive no closure, reporting…
Over a billion users globally interact with AI systems engineered to mimic human traits. This development raises concerns that anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to AI, may foster over-reliance and misplaced trust.…
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…
While large neural-based conversational models have become increasingly proficient dialogue agents, recent work has highlighted safety issues with these systems. For example, these systems can be goaded into generating toxic content, which…
Access to mental health support remains limited, particularly in marginalized communities where structural and cultural barriers hinder timely care. This paper explores the potential of AI-enabled chatbots as a scalable solution, focusing…
Conversational chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered applications that assist users with various tasks by responding in natural language and are prevalent across different industries. Most of the chatbots that we encounter on…
We introduce findings and methods to facilitate evidence-based discussion about how large language models (LLMs) should behave in response to user signals of risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB). People are already using LLMs as…
With a major focus on its history, difficulties, and promise, this research paper provides a thorough analysis of the chatbot technology environment as it exists today. It provides a very flexible chatbot system that makes use of…
Clinical communication skills are essential for preparing healthcare professionals to provide equitable care across cultures. However, traditional training with simulated patients can be resource intensive and difficult to scale, especially…
AI-driven chatbots have become an emerging solution to address psychological distress. Due to the lack of psychotherapeutic data, researchers use dialogues scraped from online peer support forums to train them. But since the responses in…
It may be difficult for some individuals to open up and share their thoughts and feelings in front of a mental health expert. For those who are more at ease with a virtual agent, conversational agents can serve as an intermediate step in…
Pre-trained language models (LLMs) such as GPT-3 can carry fluent, multi-turn conversations out-of-the-box, making them attractive materials for chatbot design. Further, designers can improve LLM chatbot utterances by prepending textual…