Lonely May Prefer Voice Companions, not Robots.

• Position: SOCIAL BOTS

Imagine a future in which lonely people can interact with social bots, based on artificial intelligence (Al), to get the conversations and connection they crave. While it sounds intriguing, a small preliminary study suggests people may not be comfortable with Al companions that look and talk too much like real humans.

"We think it may seem a little too creepy to have these embodied robots that act and look almost human," says Kelly Merrill Jr., a doctoral student in communication at Ohio State University, Columbus. "People seemed to be more comfortable with Al companions that were voicebased, more like smartphones and smart speakers like Alexa or Siri."

The study involved 106 college students who participated online. The students were only told the study was aimed at understanding their perceptions about technology. They watched a five-minute clip that the researchers edited from an episode of the television show "Black Mirror." While the focus of the actual...