Brains or Beauty: How to Engender Trust in User-Agent Interactions

Abstract

Software-based agents are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and automated. However, current technology and algorithms are still fallible, which considerably affects users’ trust and interaction with such agents. In this article, we investigate two factors that can engender user trust in agents: reliability and attractiveness of agents. We show that agent reliability is not more important than agent attractiveness. Subjective user ratings of agent trust and perceived accuracy suggest that attractiveness may be even more important than reliability.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Law, social and behavioral sciences

    • Psychology

    • Sociology

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction paradigms

      • Web-based interaction

  • Interaction design

    • Interaction design process and methods

      • User centered design

    • Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms