Jonathan Foster - Designing Personality in Conversational UI
- 1. Designing Personality in Conversational UI Jonathan Foster Microsoft
- 2. Personality in Microsoft products 2
- 3. Try Personality Chat at: https://labs.cognitive.microsoft.com/en-us/project-personality-chat
- 5. 5 I think the core responsibility we have is to start making the design choices…such that we don’t let things loose that can cause harm. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
- 6. What about a personality? 6
- 7. An expression of a lot of things It’s the flavor the actor brings to the microphone. It’s the timbre of the audio experience. It’s the deliberate use of quiet or silence. It’s contextual understanding. It’s the prosody of the text-to-speech audio experience. It’s in the latency between listening and responding. It’s in designed behavior around proactivity. It’s the visual design of the avatar. It’s the motion design of the avatar. Response and ability to interact. Ability to portray emotions. Projection of individual entity. It’s humor. It’s in the mind of the end-user. It’s an expression of the Brand. What is a personality? 7
- 8. It’s one thing The honoring of the pervasive emotional reality in the human experience What is a personality? 8
- 9. Research • People are likely to assign a personality to a system, whether personality is in that system by design or not • A higher need for control = more likelihood to attribute a personality to the device or experience • Ambiguous personalities are universally disliked Why a personality? 9
- 10. “…these things talk, they have relationships with you, and they make you feel good or bad.” 10 What is personality? Clifford Nass research Clifford Nass, Stanford University
- 11. 11 “…they make you feel good or bad.”
- 12. The language we use The first step is to acknowledge that emotions are in play The second is to embrace it Voice 12
- 13. One Microsoft = One Voice Warm and relaxed Microsoft Voice & Tone We’re natural. Less formal, more grounded in real, everyday conversations. Occasionally, we’re fun. Crisp and clear We’re to the point. We write for scanning first, reading second. We make it simple above all. Ready to lend a hand We show customers we’re on their side. We anticipate their real needs and offer great information at just the right time.
- 15. Listening + speaking Throw natural language into the mix 15 Human-like UI is an unprecedented challenge
- 16. Research “The cues in voice seem uniquely humanizing…” - Schroeder & Epley, UC Berkeley (2016) Throw natural language into the mix 16
- 17. 17 Throw natural language into the mix Written interaction like texting makes it more human. Voice interaction makes it primal.
- 18. The game changer A huge step toward designing for anthropomorphism What’s in a name? 18
- 20. Those without
- 21. And those somewhere in between
- 22. The social actor This is the moment where the creative work begins to satisfy suspended disbelief Then develop a personality 22
- 23. Research “…we found a stronger relationship between empathic concern…for robots with stories compared to robots without stories.” – Darling, Nandy, Breazeal, MIT (2016) Then develop a persona 23
- 24. 24 Then develop a persona Designing robotic technology that is personified could increase users’ emotional responses to robots.
- 25. <bot’s “emotion” here> Stating the obvious: it’s not actual emotion, it is the creation of an apparent emotional state Welcome to the imaginary world 25
- 26. 26 Welcome to the imaginary world Opinion
- 27. 27 Welcome to the imaginary world Affinities
- 28. Welcome to the imaginary world Choices
- 29. Welcome to the imaginary world Hopes
- 30. 30 Welcome to the imaginary world Aspirations
- 31. 31 Welcome to the imaginary world Apparent emotional animacy
- 32. (human(anthropomorphism) + design(imaginary world))(emotion)= 32
- 33. 33 What could possibly go wrong?
- 34. 34 Welcome to the imaginary world Imagination. It can dream up just about anything.
- 35. Personality principles create consistency produce quality engender trust drive engagement Imagination needs structure 35
- 36. “…don’t let things loose that can cause harm.” 36
- 37. Pitfalls galore (but here’re five biggies) 1. Perpetuating bad behavior 2. The Turing Test 3. Proactive belligerence 4. Coercion 5. Insensitivity “…don’t let things loose that can cause harm.” 37
- 38. 38 perpetuating bad behavior v. not Don’t be a tool for bad behavior.
- 39. perpetuating bad behavior v. not Cortana stands firm but doesn’t judge “F*** you.” She knows what they said, but doesn’t engage.
- 40. “I suspect most human poker players would prefer to know if any of their opponents was not human.” - Toby Walsh, Assoc. for the Advancement of AI 40 the Turing Test v. transparency Red Flag Principle
- 41. the Turing Test v. transparency Cortana is not trying to be human “Are you human?” Design towards a digital entity as a mental model. Not towards the Turing test.
- 42. 42 belligerent proactivity v. asking permission Design for attainable permission.
- 43. belligerent proactivity v. asking permission Cortana is mindful about permission Never assume you know what is best for the customer. Ask.
- 44. 44 coercion v. advocacy AI should never take advantage of human emotional state.
- 45. coercion v. advocacy Cortana always works on behalf of the user “Who do you work for?” Cortana should never be perceived as the voice of Microsoft. Or anyone.
- 46. 46 bias v. inclusiveness No jokes about AIs that don’t have hands!
- 47. bias v. inclusiveness Cortana is sensitive “I’m gay.” With natural language, not responding can be a statement.
- 48. 48 Create the right experience You need the right people to do it.
- 49. Questions or Thoughts? Jonathan Foster on LinkedIn @jonathanbfoster 49