The Three Social Dimensions of Chatbot Technology
This work addresses the problem of oversimplified technocentric views for researchers and practitioners, offering a structured approach to understand chatbots' societal implications, though it is incremental in building on existing scholarly inquiry.
The study tackled the need for a broader understanding of chatbot technology beyond technical aspects by examining its roles across three societal dimensions: scientific research, commercial use, and intimate interaction, providing a framework to analyze its evolution and impact on human experiences.
The development and deployment of chatbot technology, while spanning decades and employing different techniques, require innovative frameworks to understand and interrogate their functionality and implications. A mere technocentric account of the evolution of chatbot technology does not fully illuminate how conversational systems are embedded in societal dynamics. This study presents a structured examination of chatbots across three societal dimensions, highlighting their roles as objects of scientific research, commercial instruments, and agents of intimate interaction. Through furnishing a dimensional framework for the evolution of conversational systems, from laboratories to marketplaces to private lives, this article contributes to the wider scholarly inquiry of chatbot technology and its impact in lived human experiences and dynamics.