Artificial Empathy in Home Service Agents: A Conceptual Framework and Typology of Empathic Human-Agent Interactions

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances, there has been a diversification of home service functions and services, as well as a change in the applied technologies and functions. This is due to the fact that the needs and expectations vary depending on the purpose of performing the task in the same environment. Although interactions with AI often occur in the home environment, which is a personal space, there is a need for research that examines interactions in consideration of the concept of empathy. This study thus aims to identify previous studies that examine the interaction between users and technology and to systematize the elements of interaction that can be considered based on intelligent agents that are often used in the home environment. To this end, a framework was established to examine multifaceted elements through research that shows that the interaction between technology and users should be natural, with sophisticated psychological anthropomorphism. This study analyzed the literature for the establishment of an artificial empathy interaction system and presented an initial framework. Subsequently, we proceeded to the application of authentic industry cases to the framework, with the objective of ascertaining the feasibility of mapping groups exhibiting analogous trends. This process cul