What Makes a Good Conversation? Challenges in Designing Truly Conversational Agents

Explore the challenges in designing truly conversational agents in this 22-minute conference talk from the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Delve into the dichotomy between social and functional roles of conversation, examining how people value bond, trust, context, and relationship stages in human interactions. Investigate why individuals question the need for bond and common ground in agent communication, and how this shifts towards more utilitarian definitions of conversational qualities. Discover key design challenges for conversational agents, including the need to redefine interaction parameters. Learn about methodology, adaptation, active listening, humor, long-term use, barriers, and technology in the context of human-agent conversations. Gain insights into reframing conversation and future directions for truly conversational agents.