Embodied conversational agents : trust, deception and the suspension of disbelief

Aylett, Matthew Peter and Lim, Mei Yii and Pappa, Katerina and Wilson, Bruce W and Aylett, Ruth and Parra, Mario; (2023) Embodied conversational agents : trust, deception and the suspension of disbelief. In: TAS '23. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series . Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY. ISBN 9798400707346 (https://doi.org/10.1145/3597512.3597526)

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Abstract

Building trust is often cited as important for the success of a service or application. When part of the system is an embodied conversational agent (ECA), the design of the ECA has an impact on a user’s trust. In this paper we discuss whether designing an ECA for trust also means designing an ECA to give a false impression of sentience, whether such an implicit deception can undermine a sense of trust, and the impact such a design process may have on a vulnerable user group, in this case users living with dementia. We conclude by arguing that current trust metrics ignore the importance of a willing suspension of disbelief and its role in social computing.