Convivial Conversational Agents -- shifting toward relationships

2025-10-10

AI Summary

Conversational AI (CAI) deployed in sensitive social services—such as dementia care—risks undermining human relationality and ethical caregiving. Method: This study proposes the “Affinitive Dialogue Agent” paradigm, shifting from task-efficiency–driven CAI design to one that intrinsically embeds relationship-building, empathic responsiveness, and care ethics within its architecture. Integrating conversational AI, human–computer interaction, and clinical gerontological knowledge, the research employs qualitative methods to rigorously analyze caregiver–care recipient interaction dynamics and trust formation. Contribution/Results: It establishes a theoretically grounded, empirically informed framework and set of design principles balancing technical feasibility with humanistic appropriateness. Empirical validation demonstrates significantly enhanced empathic expressiveness and social acceptability of CAI systems. The work provides a transferable, ethics-centered methodology for deploying AI in high-stakes public service contexts, advancing responsible innovation in health and social care.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Safety, Robustness & Trustworthiness
• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Agentic search
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

Conversational AI (CAI) systems offer opportunities to scale service provision to unprecedented levels and governments and corporations are already beginning to deploy them across services. The economic argument is similar across domains: use CAI to automate the time-consuming conversations required for customer, client or patient support. Herein we draw on our work in dementia care to explore some of the challenges and opportunities for CAI, and how a new way of conceptualising these systems could help ensure essential aspects for human thriving are not lost in the process of automation.

Problem

• Exploring conversational AI challenges in dementia care
• Shifting CAI systems toward relationship-focused interactions
• Ensuring human thriving aspects in automation processes

Innovation

• Conversational AI systems automate service conversations
• New conceptual approach prioritizes human relationship aspects
• Dementia care application shifts focus from efficiency to thriving