Agents and User Interfaces Marti Hearst SIMS 213, UI Design & Development April 29, 1999

Summary from Last Time l People seem to treat interactive computers as if they were social actors l What are the implications? –for design of UIs –for understanding social interaction?

Building Automated Agents l Computer scientists trying to build believable agents: –ignore the vast psychological literature on personality –assume representations need to be rich »need sophisticated natural language processing and intelligent interaction »need realistic graphics, movement, and behavior

Anthropormorphia vs Ethopoeia l Nass et al. distinguish: –human-computer interaction is fundamentally social –not anthropomorphic: »“tending to believe computers are like people” »human users behave as if computers were human, even though they know they are not –ethopoeia: »“assignment of human attitudes, attentions, or motives to non-human objects”

Laurel’s Definition (Brenda Laurel, Interface Agents: Metaphors with Character) l Anthropomorphism in this context: –Not the same thing as relating to other people –Rather, the application of a metaphor »metaphors draw incomplete parallels between unlike things »emphasize some qualities, suppress others –Two key anthropomorphic qualities wrt interfaces: »Responsiveness »Capacity to perform actions –What aspects of human-human interaction are left out? Metaphor of Agency

Using Character to Depict Agency l Drama and film capitalizes on our ability to draw behavioral inferences based on sparse character cues –We can understand/enjoy even one- dimensional characters –Stories are good only if out-of- character behavior can be explained causally

Using Character to Depict Agency l Benefits of representing capabilities of agents using characters: –leverages our abilities to make inferences about and predict likely behavior/choices –invites conversational interaction –doesn’t require detailed development of the agent »characters in GUIDES interface have faces obscured; focus instead on period costumes, hair style, and surroundings –can match the character to the user and/or the task

Agents vs. Direct Manipulation Debates l CHI 97 and IUI 97 –Personified in Maes and Shneiderman –Can also be seen as AI vs. HCI l Main Issue: –How much should/can be in the user’s control, how much done “under the hood” by software? l Outcome: –They agree on a middle ground, that is more user-centric and user-driven.