Abstract
Recent technological advances introduced conversational agents into homes. Many researchers have investigated how people utilize and perceive them. However, only a small number of studies have focused on how older adults interact with these agents. This study presents a 14-day user study of 19 participants who experienced a conversational agent in a real-life environment. We grouped them into two groups by age and compared their experiences. From a log study and semi-structured interviews, we identified several differences between the two groups. Compared to younger adults, older adults used the agent more. They used it primarily for listening to music and reported satisfaction with it. Younger adults mainly used utility skills like weather report checks and setting of alarms, which streamlined their daily lives. Moreover, older adults tended to view the agent as a companion, while younger adults saw it as a tool. Based on these empirical findings, we suggest that conversational agents should be designed with consideration of the different usage patterns and perceptions across age groups.
Highlights
Conversational agents (CAs), which are able to recognize verbal input and generate verbal output [1,2,3,4], are becoming integrated into our lives
The older adults’ high CA usage may be due to the long time they spent at home
We explored the differences in CA usage and perceptions by age group
Summary
Conversational agents (CAs), which are able to recognize verbal input and generate verbal output [1,2,3,4], are becoming integrated into our lives. The emergence of CAs such as Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google has attracted industry as well as academia. Thanks to its rapid distribution, many human-agent interaction (HAI) researchers have utilized it. The HAI community has studied CA usage and user perception of it. They found that some people treat CAs as a person, not just a task-oriented machine [6,7,8]. It is known that the perceptions of CAs may change over time [11]
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