IN COOPERATION WITH
Chantal Chya Hsu
Konstantin Mitrokhov
Michaela Büsse
IN BRIEF
How many times a day are you asking something from a machine? "Set the alarm!" "What will be the weather today?" Orders and commands. They never hear "thanks" or "please". There is a need for a "polite mode" as Erika Hall says. Because the way how we treat machines shapes our behavior towards other people.
As a response to these thoughts, we created a Very demanding pet robot. This project was done in the framework of Hackers & Designers Summer Academy 2017 in Amsterdam.
"Please pet me."
"I like that!"
"When a human being interacts with another human being — for example, a friend — we are driven by the desire to take part in a shared activity. Communication with a bot is different — the gratification derives from a change of mental state, a sort of detachment: You can achieve your goal (getting help, information, even a feeling of companionship) with no immediate “cost.” No investment is required: there’s no need to be nice, to smile, be involved or be emotionally considerate.
It sounds convenient — but the problem arises when we become addicted to this form of bot interaction and slowly start developing a preference for “easy communication.” This can lead to secondary problems." explains Liraz Margalit in her article Psychology of Chatbots.
