Future directions for chatbot research: an interdisciplinary research agenda

Følstad, A. et al. (2021) Future directions for chatbot research: an interdisciplinary research agenda. Computing, 103(12), pp. 2915-2942. (doi: 10.1007/s00607-021-01016-7) (PMCID:PMC8523728)

[img] Text
257358.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

437kB

Abstract

Chatbots are increasingly becoming important gateways to digital services and information—taken up within domains such as customer service, health, education, and work support. However, there is only limited knowledge concerning the impact of chatbots at the individual, group, and societal level. Furthermore, a number of challenges remain to be resolved before the potential of chatbots can be fully realized. In response, chatbots have emerged as a substantial research area in recent years. To help advance knowledge in this emerging research area, we propose a research agenda in the form of future directions and challenges to be addressed by chatbot research. This proposal consolidates years of discussions at the CONVERSATIONS workshop series on chatbot research. Following a deliberative research analysis process among the workshop participants, we explore future directions within six topics of interest:(a) users and implications, (b) user experience and design, (c) frameworks and platforms, (d) chatbots for collaboration, (e) democratizing chatbots, and (f) ethics and privacy. For each of these topics, we provide a brief overview of the state of the art, discuss key research challenges, and suggest promising directions for future research. The six topics are detailed with a 5-year perspective in mind and are to be considered items of an interdisciplinary research agenda produced collaboratively by avid researchers in the field.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:Open access funding provided by SINTEF AS. Funding supporting the work conducted by the first author was provided by Norges Forskningsråd (Grant No. 270940).
Keywords:Chatbots, conversational agents, dialogue systems, future research directions, artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, HCI, conversational interface, NLP, natural language processing.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Laban, Mr Guy
Authors: Følstad, A., Araujo, T., Law, E. L.-C., Brandtzaeg, P. B., Papadopoulos, S., Reis, L., Baez, M., Laban, G., McAllister, P., Ischen, C., Wald, R., Catania, F., Meyer von Wolff, R., Hobert, S., and Luger, E.
Subjects:Q Science > Q Science (General)
Q Science > QA Mathematics
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
T Technology > T Technology (General)
T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
Journal Name:Computing
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0010-485X
ISSN (Online):1436-5057
Published Online:19 October 2021
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2021 The Authors
First Published:First published in Computing 103(12): 2915-2942
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record