A Comparative Japanese-U.S. Study of the Acceptability of Conversational Lifelike Agents for Linguistic Consideration

Abstract

In this study, we discuss the acceptability of interactive anthropomorphic agents from the perspective of a comparison between Japan and the United States. Specifically, we conduct “survey 1: questionnaire survey on acceptability of interaction with robots participating in society” and “survey 2: impression evaluation of verbal consideration assuming interaction with interactive anthropomorphic agents.” In survey 1, without specifying a specific anthropomorphic agent, we evaluate the negative attitude and uneasy impression toward robots participating in society as a whole. In survey 2, we asked the experimental participants to watch a video in which they were supposed to interact with an interactive anthropomorphic agent, and evaluated their impressions. The results of these surveys indicated that American participants tended to have more negative attitudes and anxious impressions toward anthropomorphic agents as a whole than Japanese participants, but on the other hand, it was possible to increase the acceptance of American participants in situations in which they interacted with anthropomorphic agents in a pseudo-dialogue. On the other hand, it was suggested that it is possible to increase the receptivity of American participants to anthropomorphic agents in situations in which they interact with them.