Helper agent

TLDR

The paper introduces a novel application of interface agents to support human‑human interaction in virtual environments and discusses implications for designing social agents. The prototype, modeled as a party host, strategically listens and introduces safe or unsafe topics via questions and suggestions to facilitate cross‑cultural human‑human communication in virtual environments, and was experimentally evaluated. The agent positively affected participants’ conversational experience, perceptions of each other and their national groups, and even altered their behavioral style.

Abstract

This paper introduces a new application area for agents in the computer interface: the support of human-human interaction. We discuss an interface agent prototype that is designed to support human-human communication in virtual environments. The prototype interacts with users strategically during conversation, spending most of its time listening. The prototype mimics a party host, trying to find a safe common topic for guests whose conversation has lagged. We performed an experimental evaluation of the prototype's ability to assist in cross-cultural conversations. We designed the prototype to introduce safe or unsafe topics to conversation pairs, through a series of questions and suggestions. The agent made positive contributions to participants' experience of the conversation, influenced their perception of each other and of each others' national group, and even seemed to effect their style of behavior. We discuss the implications of our research for the design of social agents to support human-human interaction.