Mapping Perceptions of Humanness in Speech-Based Intelligent Personal Assistant Interaction
This research addresses the problem of designing more effective and appropriate speech interfaces for users by clarifying perceptions of humanness, though it is incremental as it builds on existing human-computer interaction concepts.
The study mapped how users perceive humanness in speech-based intelligent personal assistants by analyzing dialogues and reflections from 21 participants, identifying eight key themes such as partner knowledge and interpersonal connection, and found that users view these assistants as more formal, fact-based, and less authentic than humans.
Humanness is core to speech interface design. Yet little is known about how users conceptualise perceptions of humanness and how people define their interaction with speech interfaces through this. To map these perceptions n=21 participants held dialogues with a human and two speech interface based intelligent personal assistants, and then reflected and compared their experiences using the repertory grid technique. Analysis of the constructs show that perceptions of humanness are multidimensional, focusing on eight key themes: partner knowledge set, interpersonal connection, linguistic content, partner performance and capabilities, conversational interaction, partner identity and role, vocal qualities and behavioral affordances. Through these themes, it is clear that users define the capabilities of speech interfaces differently to humans, seeing them as more formal, fact based, impersonal and less authentic. Based on the findings, we discuss how the themes help to scaffold, categorise and target research and design efforts, considering the appropriateness of emulating humanness.