Designing social actors: an ethics of system-user interaction

Thesis

As computing systems become increasingly conversational, autonomous, and proactive, they evolve from mere tools into persistent social actors, shaping our experience and behaviour through dozens of everyday interactions. Automated systems with varying degrees of 'smart'-ness already address and talk to users directly, treating them at once as friends, customers, patients, and targets. Yet, in this drive toward more personable and chatty interfaces, it is crucial to understand how to naviga...

Expand abstract

Authors: Alberts, L

• Alternative title: The ethical design of systems and agents that interact with people
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qapr9deab
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: behavioural design ethics; Computers Are Social Actors; person-centred care; pragmatics; context-aware computing; respect; personalised dialogue agent; conversational user interface; agentic AI; behaviour change; user empowerment; generative artificial intelligence; human-agent interaction; autonomy; self-determination theory; conversational agent; large language model alignment; human-AI relationships; dark patterns; human-centred computing
• Subjects: Human-computer interaction; Interpersonal relations; Manipulative behavior; Context-aware computing; Generative artificial intelligence; Ethics; Social psychology