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The Conversation
The Conversation
Brigitte Viljoen, Psychotherapist and Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology

Social robot or digital avatar, users interact with this AI technology as if it’s real

Robots Amazon Artificial Intelligence

Humans are interacting more than ever with artificial intelligence (AI) – from the development of the first “social robots” (a robot with a physical body programmed to interact and engage with humans) like Kismet in the 1990s to smart speakers such as Amazon’s Alexa.

But this technology is changing how humans relate with it – and with each other.

Our new research looked at how humans experience interacting with AI social robots or digital avatars – AI virtual chatbots designed to look and interact like a human on a device. These are designed to increase human interaction with them.

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