Acquiring Semantic Knowledge for User Model Updates via Human-Agent Alignment Dialogues

Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications

Abstract

For personal assistive technologies to effectively support users, they need a user model that records information about the user, such as their goals, values, and context. Knowledge-based techniques can model the relationships between these concepts, enabling the support agent to act in accordance with the user’s values. However, user models require updating over time to accommodate changes and continuously align with what the user deems important. In our work, we propose and investigate the use of human-agent alignment dialogues for establishing whether user model updates are needed and acquiring the necessary information for these updates. In this paper, we perform an exploratory qualitative focus group study in which we investigate participants’ opinions about written examples of alignment dialogues, as a foundation for their design. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. A main theme that emerged concerns the potential impact of agent utterances on the user’s feelings about themselves and about the agent.

Authors 5

1. Pei‐Yu Chen corresponding

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

2. Myrthe Lotte Tielman

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

3. Dirk Heylen

   University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Twente, The Netherlands

4. Catholijn M. Jonker Aachen

   Leiden University · Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

   Leiden University, The Netherlands

5. M. Birna van Riemsdijk

   University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Twente, The Netherlands