Artificial intelligence and communication: A Human–Machine Communication research agenda

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) and people’s interactions with it—through virtual agents, socialbots, and language-generation software—do not fit neatly into paradigms of communication theory that have long focused on human–human communication. To address this disconnect between communication theory and emerging technology, this article provides a starting point for articulating the differences between communicative AI and previous technologies and introduces a theoretical basis for navigating these conditions in the form of scholarship within human–machine communication (HMC). Drawing on an HMC framework, we outline a research agenda built around three key aspects of communicative AI technologies: (1) the functional dimensions through which people make sense of these devices and applications as communicators, (2) the relational dynamics through which people associate with these technologies and, in turn, relate to themselves and others, and (3) the metaphysical implications called up by blurring ontological boundaries surrounding what constitutes human, machine, and communication.

Introduction to the Minitrack on Mediated Conversation

“…Their paper, "Mediated Communication and Customer Service Experiences: Psychological and Demographic Predictors of User Evaluations in the United States," takes into account differences associated with demographics as well as personality variables. They also note that their study has implications for the broader and emergent scholarly domain of human-machine communication, which focuses on the study of the "creation of meaning among humans and machines" [2] and seeks to refine theoretical approaches to studying people's interactions with technologies such as robots and other agents that embody "communicative AI" [3,5].…”

Mediated Communication and Customer Service Experiences: Psychological and Demographic Predictors of User Evaluations in the United States

“…With the addition of automated interfaces, though, it is not clear, whether the same tenets of media richness apply when people are talking with machines, rather than through them to a human on the other side [7]. Increasingly, people are interacting with AI technologiessuch as IVRs in a service setting or digital voice assistants like Alexa in a domestic settingthrough the course of their daily lives [18].…”

“…These information systems no longer only convey messages between people as mediators, but in some instances act as communication partners themselves, which may require a reconceptualization of communication technologies beyond the computer-mediated communication (CMC) paradigm [5]. This new age of Artificially Intelligent (AI) communication devices compels us to think about human communication beyond face-to-face and mediated modalities, and think about human-machine communication [6] [7].…”

“…However, media richness also takes into account how personal or impersonal the communication source is [11]. To our knowledge, this aspect of media richness has not been explored with regards to automated technology that can simulate human-ness but is clearly automated.Indeed, scholars have argued that traditional communication theories predicated on human-human interaction may not directly apply to human-machine communication (HMC) [5] [7]. Media richness theory was developed at the early stages of the online communication revolution.…”

“…Indeed, scholars have argued that traditional communication theories predicated on human-human interaction may not directly apply to human-machine communication (HMC) [5] [7]. Media richness theory was developed at the early stages of the online communication revolution.…”