When users verbally ask a virtual assistant a health-related question about topics like allergies or the flu, they feel a stronger "social presence" to the technology than when they ask more sensitive questions, according to a State College, Pa.-based Penn State University study.
Eugene Cho, a graduate student at Penn State, evaluated 53 college students' interactions with Google Assistant, which offers verbal and text options. Ms. Cho sought to determine if there was a "social presence" when interacting with inanimate objects.
If a user asked a question on a more sensitive topic, such as sexual advice or information about STDs, there was no influence in attitude toward the Google Assistant, regardless if it was in text or voice.
"Even though users know that virtual agents like Google Assistant are not real, they still feel a sense of social connection to them," she said. "When participants asked non-sensitive questions to Google Assistant through voice, they rated a higher level of human warmth during their interaction with the assistant."
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