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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Artificial Sociality, Simone Natale, Iliana Depounti Apr 2024

Artificial Sociality, Simone Natale, Iliana Depounti

Human-Machine Communication

This article proposes the notion of Artificial Sociality to describe communicative AI technologies that create the impression of social behavior. Existing tools that activate Artificial Sociality include, among others, Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, voice assistants, virtual influencers, socialbots and companion chatbots such as Replika. The article highlights three key issues that are likely to shape present and future debates about these technologies, as well as design practices and regulation efforts: the modelling of human sociality that foregrounds it, the problem of deception and the issue of control from the part of the users. Ethical, social and cultural …


I Get By With A Little Help From My Bots: Implications Of Machine Agents In The Context Of Social Support, Austin Beattie, Andrew C. High Apr 2022

I Get By With A Little Help From My Bots: Implications Of Machine Agents In The Context Of Social Support, Austin Beattie, Andrew C. High

Human-Machine Communication

In this manuscript we discuss the increasing use of machine agents as potential sources of support for humans. Continued examination of the use of machine agents, particularly chatbots (or “bots”) for support is crucial as more supportive interactions occur with these technologies. Building off extant research on supportive communication, this manuscript reviews research that has implications for bots as support providers. At the culmination of the literature review, several propositions regarding how factors of technological efficacy, problem severity, perceived stigma, and humanness affect the process of support are proposed. By reviewing relevant studies, we integrate research on human-machine and supportive …


Our Future Arrived: Diffusion Of Human-Machine Communication And Transformation Of The World For The Post-Pandemic Era, Do Kyun David Kim, Gary Kreps, Rukhsana Ahmed Sep 2021

Our Future Arrived: Diffusion Of Human-Machine Communication And Transformation Of The World For The Post-Pandemic Era, Do Kyun David Kim, Gary Kreps, Rukhsana Ahmed

Human-Machine Communication

The world is getting into a new phase in history. For the first time, humans are verbally communicating and developing meaningful relationships with non-living objects. AI is a wormhole to open a gateway to the new world, and the COVID-19 pandemic prepared the world to transform its system to be an open system that responds to, communicates with, and utilizes the remnants coming out of the wormhole of the new world. Now, we urgently need to create a holistic discourse on how we can recognize, develop, or shape the identities of communicable machines as people develop a partnership with them. …


Ontological Boundaries Between Humans And Computers And The Implications For Human-Machine Communication, Andrea L. Guzman Feb 2020

Ontological Boundaries Between Humans And Computers And The Implications For Human-Machine Communication, Andrea L. Guzman

Human-Machine Communication

In human-machine communication, people interact with a communication partner that is of a different ontological nature from themselves. This study examines how people conceptualize ontological differences between humans and computers and the implications of these differences for human-machine communication. Findings based on data from qualitative interviews with 73 U.S. adults regarding disembodied artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (voice-based AI assistants, automated-writing software) show that people differentiate between humans and computers based on origin of being, degree of autonomy, status as tool/tool-user, level of intelligence, emotional capabilities, and inherent flaws. In addition, these ontological boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred as technologies emulate …


Contextualizing Observational Data For Modeling Human Performance, Viet Trinh Jan 2009

Contextualizing Observational Data For Modeling Human Performance, Viet Trinh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the ability to contextualize observed human behaviors in efforts to automate the process of tactical human performance modeling through learning from observations. This effort to contextualize human behavior is aimed at minimizing the role and involvement of the knowledge engineers required in building intelligent Context-based Reasoning (CxBR) agents. More specifically, the goal is to automatically discover the context in which a human actor is situated when performing a mission to facilitate the learning of such CxBR models. This research is derived from the contextualization problem left behind in Fernlund's research on using the Genetic Context Learner …


Learning Human Behavior From Observation For Gaming Applications, Christopher Moriarty Jan 2007

Learning Human Behavior From Observation For Gaming Applications, Christopher Moriarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The gaming industry has reached a point where improving graphics has only a small effect on how much a player will enjoy a game. One focus has turned to adding more humanlike characteristics into computer game agents. Machine learning techniques are being used scarcely in games, although they do offer powerful means for creating humanlike behaviors in agents. The first person shooter (FPS), Quake 2, is an open source game that offers a multi-agent environment to create game agents (bots) in. This work attempts to combine neural networks with a modeling paradigm known as context based reasoning (CxBR) to create …


On Advanced Template-Based Interpretation As Applied To Intention Recognition In A Strategic Environment, Cameron Akridge Jan 2007

On Advanced Template-Based Interpretation As Applied To Intention Recognition In A Strategic Environment, Cameron Akridge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An area of study that has received much attention over the past few decades is simulations involving threat assessment in military scenarios. Recently, much research has emerged concerning the recognition of troop movements and formations in non-combat simulations. Additionally, there have been efforts towards the detection and assessment of various types of malicious intentions. One such work by Akridge addressed the issue of Strategic Intention Recognition, but fell short in the detection of tactics that it could not detect without somehow manipulating the environment. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to address the problem of recognizing an opponent's intent …