Human-Chatbot Interaction Design

Chatbots are machine agents that serve as a natural language interface to data and services. The current interest in chatbots is driven by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Chatbots are now being developed to provide customer service, health advice, work support, and playful user experiences. To develop more useful and user-friendly chatbots, we have in the project sought to combine and advance the state-of-the-art of human-computer interaction (HCI) and machine learning. For this purpose, we have worked to establish human-computer interaction design as a field of research with an associated specialist circle, that is, an international researcher network with a research interest in this field. Furthermore, we have researched the development and use of chatbots in collaboration with public sector and industry. To establish and maintain an international research network on human-chatbot interaction design, we have – in collaboration with researchers from the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Greece – established CONVERSATIONS, a series of international workshops on chatbot research. In November 2022 we arranged the sixth of these: CONVERSATIONS 2022. The workshop series has become a living meeting place which will be continued also after the end of the project. The research activities in the project have concerned chatbot user experience and interaction design as well as new approaches for machine learning to improve the interaction between users and chatbots. To better understand user experience, we have worked on analysis of dialogue data between users and chatbots, and on self-reported data from users. To understand the effect of different interaction designs, we have conducted experiments in the lab and online. We have also worked on how the Tsetlin-machine approach to machine learning, developed at the University of Agder, can strengthen semantic understanding in chatbots, strengthen understanding of sequences of events in dialogue, and for unsupervised learning in chatbot training. Dissemination has been an important part of the project, in particular as we have aimed to establish 'human-chatbot interaction design' as a field of research. For this purpose, we have contributed to the organization of the master course Interacting with AI at the Institute of Informatics, University of Oslo. The project researchers have also disseminated project results through academic publication, conference and seminar presentations, guest lectures, and media. The project research partners have been SINTEF, with the research group on Human-Computer Interaction, and University of Agder, with the Centre for AI Research (CAIR).

Prosjektet har bidratt til å flytte forskningsfronten innen chatbot interaksjonsdesign. I prosjektet har vi etablert ny kunnskap om brukeres behov for, og opplevelse av chatboter. Vi har undersøkt effekten av ulike chatbot interaksjonsdesign. Og vi har arbeidet med nye måter å bruke maskinlæring på som kan bidra til å utvikle bedre chatboter. Kunnskapsgrunnlaget fra prosjektet er en nyttig basis for videre forskning. I prosjektet har vi samarbeidet med virksomheter fra akademia, offentlig sektor og næringsliv. Dette har bidratt til å gjøre forskningsresultatene relevante, og har også gitt ny kunnskap om eksisterende tjenester og innsikt i mulige forbedringer. Vi har også bidratt til styrket internasjonalt forskningssamarbeid innen feltet. Kunnskap om chatbot interaksjonsdesign, og maskinlæring brukt på nye måter for å styrke chatboter, er også et nyttig grunnlag for å forstå hvordan chatboter basert på store språkmodeller kan tas i bruk og tilpasses for å gi bedre digitale tjenester.

Natural language interaction is the next frontier in the development of ubiquitous data and services. Chatbots are particularly promising, that is, machine agents serving as natural language user interfaces to data and service in social networks. To contribute to this field of high industrial and academic interest, we will establish a research community of critical mass (specialist circle) on human-chatbot interaction design. Here, we will combine and extend the state-of-the-art in human-computer interaction and machine learning. The specialist circle will have substantial impact through future European R&I projects (H2020), industry and public sector projects, knowledge networks, and education. A particular concern in the project is to realise the potential of chatbots to strengthen digital inclusion. Given their low threshold of interaction through natural language, and easy access e.g. through chat services, chatbots have the potential to lower thresholds for digital participation across gender, age, and socio-economic status. We will extend the state-of-the-art by addressing the need to establish and leverage knowledge of users and conversational context in human-chatbot interaction. For this purpose, we will apply machine learning to develop generative models and libraries of interaction patterns sensitive to user types and conversational contexts. Industry and public sector actors will be invited as data providers. The integration of machine learning in HCI also represent a needed complement to this field. Machine learning enables the development of generative interaction models, which in turn can be used to simulate interaction patterns and drive the analysis and (re)design of human-chatbot interactions. This will allow future HCI to utilize available large data sets in analysis and design of interactive systems in general, and natural language user interfaces in particular.