Entertainment Chatbot for Improving Digital Inclusion and Information Access for Elderly Users

Centrala begrepp

The EBER chatbot combines Artificial Intelligence Modeling Language, Natural Language Generation, and Sentiment Analysis to create an "intelligent radio" that reads news and engages elderly users in short, empathetic dialogues to improve their information access and abstraction capabilities.

Sammanfattning

The paper presents the design and implementation of the EBER chatbot, which aims to improve digital inclusion and information access for elderly users. The key aspects are:

News Service:

EBER reads a variety of news topics that may interest the elderly, such as accessibility, environment, health, leisure, public services, retirement, social services, sport, technology, and transport.
The news is obtained from the Spanish National Radio and Television (RTVE) API.

Natural Language Generation (NLG) Module:

A three-stage NLG module generates coherent, grammatically correct responses based on keywords extracted from user utterances and news content.

Sentiment Analysis (SA) Module:

A three-stage SA module classifies user responses into positive, negative, or neutral sentiment.
The SA knowledge is used to adapt the chatbot's responses and facial expressions to the user's mood, creating a more empathetic interaction.

Chatbot Design:

The chatbot personality is designed using Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML) to maintain a controlled dialogue flow with short questions about daily routines and mood.
Accessibility features include voice-based interaction, simple graphics, and visual cues to guide the user.
The chatbot aims to engage the user by alternating news readings with short, empathetic dialogues.

The experiments involved 31 elderly users and showed that the system was able to improve the users' information abstraction capabilities, even for those with limited technological skills. The analysis of user behavior and satisfaction scores validated the effectiveness of the "intelligent radio" approach in reducing the digital gap for the elderly.

Statistik

The system was tested with 31 elderly users (20 women and 11 men), with an average age of 75.5 ± 6.95 years.
10 users had some basic technology skills, 8 had hearing problems, 23 were highly focused during the experiments, and 5 felt awkward or stressed during the interactions.

Citat

"The understanding of the bot."
"The system moves its eyes and mouth to show a frame of mind."
"The systems detects the mood of my opinions."
"The chatbot understands me and adapts itself to my answers."

Viktiga insikter från

Entertainment chatbot for the digital inclusion of elderly people without abstraction capabilities

by Silv... på arxiv.org 04-03-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.01327.pdf

Djupare frågor

How could the system be further improved to better detect when the user has finished their turn and avoid interruptions?

To improve the system's ability to detect when the user has finished their turn and avoid interruptions, several enhancements can be implemented:

Speech Recognition: Implement more advanced speech recognition algorithms to accurately detect pauses and changes in speech patterns that indicate the end of a user's turn.

Natural Language Processing: Utilize natural language processing techniques to analyze the context of the conversation and identify cues that signal the completion of a user's input.

User Feedback: Incorporate user feedback mechanisms to allow users to explicitly indicate when they have finished speaking or when they are ready for the chatbot to respond.

Timing Algorithms: Develop timing algorithms that can predict when a user is likely to finish speaking based on historical data and patterns in the conversation.

Visual Cues: Integrate visual cues in the user interface to signal to the user when it is their turn to speak and when the chatbot is processing their input.

How could the system's personalization capabilities be enhanced to provide more tailored news recommendations and dialogues for each user over time?

To enhance the system's personalization capabilities for tailored news recommendations and dialogues over time, the following strategies can be implemented:

User Profiling: Develop a user profiling system that captures user preferences, interests, and feedback over time to create personalized profiles for each user.

Machine Learning Algorithms: Implement machine learning algorithms to analyze user interactions and preferences, enabling the system to adapt and recommend news items based on individual user behavior.

Contextual Understanding: Enhance the system's ability to understand the context of conversations and user responses to provide more relevant and personalized news recommendations.

Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback loop where users can provide explicit feedback on the relevance and quality of news recommendations, allowing the system to continuously improve its personalization capabilities.

Dynamic Content Generation: Incorporate dynamic content generation techniques to create personalized dialogues and news summaries based on user preferences and historical interactions.

What are the potential long-term benefits of using the EBER chatbot, such as monitoring cognitive abilities and reducing loneliness?

The EBER chatbot offers several long-term benefits, including:

Cognitive Monitoring: By analyzing user interactions and responses over time, the chatbot can provide insights into changes in cognitive abilities, helping to monitor cognitive health and detect early signs of cognitive decline.

Social Engagement: The chatbot can serve as a companion for users, reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation by providing a conversational partner and a source of entertainment.

Personalized Support: Through personalized news recommendations and dialogues, the chatbot can cater to individual preferences and interests, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.

Continuous Learning: The chatbot can continuously learn from user interactions and feedback, improving its ability to provide relevant and engaging content tailored to each user's needs.

Health Monitoring: The chatbot can potentially integrate health monitoring features to track user well-being and provide support for health-related issues, contributing to overall well-being and quality of life.