This project addresses the potential and challenges of using conversational AI in education.
Conversational agents (smart speakers, AI-based chat and voice bots, etc.) can be found today in various contexts, including learning environments. AI-based pedagogical agents serve as tutors and can support learners by guiding the learning process and providing instructions. Research is helping to understand how such agents can be useful for learning and how to design them to be engaging and effective. Human-human interaction will continue to play an important role in the development of pedagogical agents, but new forms of collaboration between humans and AI are also being considered. Based on research on communication with conversational AI in everyday and institutional contexts, including her own previous empirical studies, Dr Alisa Maksimova investigates how users interact with AI-based pedagogical agents. She explores the characteristics of conversation with AI agents and qualitatively analyses the challenges of understanding and constructing mutual orientation in human-AI interaction.