Korbut2023
| Korbut2023 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Korbut2023 |
| Author(s) | Andrei Korbut |
| Title | How Conversational are “Conversational Agents”? Evidence from the Study of Users’ Interaction with a Service Telephone Chatbot |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, Ethnomethodology, Conversation analysis, Conversational agents, Chatbot, Call center, AI Reference List |
| Publisher | |
| Year | 2023 |
| Language | English |
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| Month | |
| Journal | Social Interaction: Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality |
| Volume | 6 |
| Number | 1 |
| Pages | |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.7146/si.v6i1.137249 |
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Abstract
The paper considers whether is it possible to view interactions with so-called conversational agents (chatbots, voice assistants, etc.) as a form of conversation. It is argued here that such conversational agents are conversational in a proper sense. To justify this conclusion, the analysis of the beginnings of 100 calls to a Russian municipal call center, processed by a chatbot, is conducted. The revealed features of the inquiry formulations, silences, and overlaps at the beginning of the calls show that users deal with the chatbot as a conversational partner and not as a voice user interface. It is proposed that to call an interaction a “conversation,” it is enough that at least one co-participant (the weak participation requirement) is able to understand all the turns in the interaction (the strong analyzability requirement) as part of the ongoing conversation.
Notes
