Hire an Illini
Yi-Chieh Lee
- Advisor:
- Yun Huang
- Departments:
- Areas of Expertise:
- CSCW
- Conversational AI
- Social computing
- Human-centered AI
- Human-computer interaction
- Thesis Title:
- Designing Conversational Agents to Promote Self-disclosure and Behavior Change
- Thesis abstract:
- Conversational agents (CAs), as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, are regarded as one of the most promising technologies and are increasingly applied in many domains. Because CAs provide a fast, convenient, and low-cost communication channel, both scholars and practitioners are keen to develop effective CAs to address the challenges of providing healthcare services and improving people's well-being. However, effective communication with people through CAs requires people's trust and people's willingness to self-disclose their personal information or experiences with the CAs. To achieve long-term benefits (e.g., addressing chronological health issues), being able to sustain communication between people and the CAs also remains a challenge. In this dissertation research, we design, implement and evaluate CAs to address the fundamental challenges of effectively eliciting and sustaining people's self-disclosure with the CAs in different social contexts. More specifically, our research will contribute: 1) effective CA designs that succeed in eliciting people's deep self-disclosure to a CA over time, 2) empirical evidence and deeper understandings of sustaining people's trust of CAs throughout different interaction periods, e.g., with and without the involvement of real mental health professionals, and 3) new design insights of integrating human support in human-CA interaction to promote behavior change. The global pandemic (COVID-19) heightens the challenges of providing healthcare services at all levels, our research will make a timely impact on society and a lasting impact on human-AI research at large.
- Downloads:
Contact information:
ylee267@illinois.edu