Exploring empathic dialogues using large language models in digital companions
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2024-07-24
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en
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Abstract
The aging population places a growing pressure on the elderly care system. At the same
time, care organizations face an increasing shortage of care personnel. New technologies,
such as social robots and digital companions, are now being developed in order to max imize the elderly’s independence and general well-being while at the same time lowering
the pressure on caregivers. An essential element for the success of digital companions is
keeping the user engaged. This explorative study aims to gain insights into the effects
of empathic dialogue in digital companions on user engagement in the context of elderly
care, while also exploring the potential and constraints of using large language models
(LLMs) to create empathy. A prototype with three dialogue variants was developed
within the context of a use case of self-reporting feelings: no empathy, basic empathy,
and rich empathy dialogues. A validation study was conducted to ensure empathy levels
differ across the three variants. A mixed-methods user study was conducted to explore
the effects on engagement. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to
measure empathy, user engagement, and preferences. The findings of this study suggest
that higher levels of empathy in the dialogue of a digital companion result in higher
user engagement, but the individual differences must be acknowledged. LLMs provide
advantages and opportunities to create more empathic dialogues but also present chal lenges, such as ethical issues. Future studies are needed to generalize the findings and
could address more advanced applications of LLMs and ethical considerations.
Keywords: Social Robots; Digital Companions; Conversational Agents; User Engage ment; Dialogues; Empathy; Large Language Models.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen