Social adaptation in conversational agents
Technology interfaces can improve human-machine interaction when they learn to adapt to users in social settings.
From cars with voice control, to instructable robots that help with housework, to embodied characters that take website requests, technology is increasingly invading our daily lives and new paradigms are emerging to interact with it. Machines are no longer viewed as complicated yet dumb tools, but rather as smart companions that support task management and relieve us of tedious operation of appliances. Such agent-based interfaces complement traditional relationships and call for intuitive forms of human-machine communication.
‘Socially adaptive agents’- which must learn from and adjust to their users to establish and maintain successful interaction routines and signals - can offer a solution to both problems. We do not only need models of social behaviour, but we must also understand how this behaviour facilitates and is subject to personalized adaptation.