Believe It or Not? Investigating the Credibility of Voice Assistants in the Context of Social Roles and Relationship Types

Abstract

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have empowered voice assistants to comprehend user input and provide contextually relevant responses more effectively. This paper aims to explore people’s relationship with voice assistants, examining factors like the sense of power, control, closeness, and parasocial relationships, and how relationship types relate to the credibility of voice assistants. To investigate this, we built on the foundation of interpersonal relationships and applied parasocial relationship theory as a framework for understanding the human–agent relationship. We conducted an online survey (N = 393). Our results show that people mainly perceive their relationship with voice assistants as either a servant–master relationship, student–teacher relationship, or equal partnership. This study highlights that voice assistants’ mimicry of human characteristics can make them more than tools—they can also be perceived as servants, teachers, or equal partners. Notably, a significant association exists between relationship type and credibility judgments towards voice assistants.