[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ Skip to main content
Log in

Is it possible to grow an I–Thou relation with an artificial agent? A dialogistic perspective

  • Original Article
  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The paper analyzes if it is possible to grow an I–Thou relation in the sense of Martin Buber with an artificial, conversational agent developed with Natural Language Processing techniques. The requirements for such an agent, the possible approaches for the implementation, and their limitations are discussed. The relation of the achievement of this goal with the Turing test is emphasized. Novel perspectives on the I–Thou and I–It relations are introduced according to the sociocultural paradigm and Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism, polyphony inter-animation, and carnavalesque. The polyphonic model, the associated analysis method, and the support tools are introduced. Some ideas on how the polyphonic model may be used for the implementation of a computer application able to analyze some features of the existence of an I–Thou relation are included.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
£29.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Bakhtin MM (1981) The dialogic imagination: four essays. University of Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin MM (1984a) Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics, theory and history of literature series, vol. 8 (edited and translated by C. Emerson). ​University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

  • Bakhtin MM (1984b) Rabelais and his world. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin MM (1986) Speech genres and other late essays. University of Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Buber M (1970) I and Thou, translation Walter Kaufmann. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark K, Holquist JM (1984) Mikhail Bakhtin. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowell S (2015) “Existentialism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2015 Edition). In: Zalta EN (ed). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/existentialism/

  • Dascalu M, Dessus P, Trausan-Matu S, Bianco M, Nardy A (2013) ReaderBench, an environment for analyzing text complexity and reading strategies. In: Lane HC, Yacef K, Mostow J, Pavlik P (eds) 16th Int. Conf. on artificial intelligence in education (AIED 2013). Springer, Memphis, pp 379–388

  • Fromm E (1955) The sane society. Fawcett Premier, Greenwich, Connecticut

    Google Scholar 

  • Hovy EH (2015) What are sentiment, affect, and emotion? Applying the methodology of Michael Zock to sentiment analysis. In: Gala N et al (eds) Language production, cognition, and the lexicon, text, speech and language technology 48. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Jurafsky D, Martin JH (2009) Speech and language processing. In: An introduction to natural language processing, computational linguistics, and speech recognition, 2nd edn. Pearson Prentice Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Koffka K (1935) Principles of gestalt psychology. Harcourt, Brace, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G, Johnson M (1980) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinas E (1979) Totality and infinity. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh

  • Marcus S (1997) Empatie si personalitate, Ed. Atos, Bucharest (in Romanian)

  • Mihailovic A (1997) Corporeal words: Mihail Bakhtin’s theology of discourse. Northwestern University Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang B, Lee L (2008) Opinion mining and sentiment analysis. Found Trends Inf Retriev 2:1–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert LK (2015) What kinds of knowledge are needed for genuine understanding? IJCAI 2015 workshop on cognitive knowledge acquisition and applications (Cognitum 2015), Buenos Aires

  • Stahl G (2006) Group cognition. Computer support for building collaborative knowledge. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi H, Horii T, Endo N, Morita T, Yokoyama H, Asada M (2014) How does emphatic emotion emerge via human–robot rhythmic interaction?, HAI 2014, ACM, Tsukuba, Japan

  • Tannen D (1989) Talking voices: repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson E (2007) Mind in life: biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind. Harvard University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S (2010a) Computer support for creativity in small groups using chats. Ann Acad Rom Sci Ser Sci Technol Inf 3(2):81–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S (2010b) The polyphonic model of hybrid and collaborative learning. In: Wang FL, Fong J, Kwan RC (eds.) Handbook of research on hybrid learning models: advanced tools, technologies, and applications. Information Science Publishing, Hershey, pp 466–486

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S (2012) Repetition as artifact generation in polyphonic CSCL chats. In: Third international conference on emerging intelligent data and web technologies. IEEE, Bucharest, pp 194–198

  • Trausan-Matu S (2013) Collaborative and differential utterances, pivotal moments, and polyphony. In: Suthers D, Lund K, Rosé CP, Law N (eds) Productive multivocality. Springer, New York, pp 123–139

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S, Murarus RI (2015) Evaluarea invatarii colaborative pe chat, pe baza analizei repetitiilor si altruismului, Revista Romana de Interactiune Om-Calculator, 8(3), pp 223–236

  • Trausan-Matu S, Rebedea T (2010) A polyphonic model and system for inter-animation analysis in chat conversations with multiple participants. In: Gelbukh AF (ed) 11th international conference on computational linguistics and intelligent text processing (CICLing 2010). Springer, Iasi, pp 354–363

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S, Rebedea T, Dragan A, Alexandru C (2007a) Visualisation of learners’ contributions in chat conversations. In: Fong J, Wang FL (eds) Blended learning. Pearson/Prentice Hall, Singapour, pp 217–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Trausan-Matu S, Stahl G, Sarmiento J (2007b) Supporting polyphonic collaborative learning. E-service J, vol. 6, nr. 1, Indiana University Press, pp 58–74

  • Trausan-Matu S, Dascalu M, Rebedea T (2014) PolyCAFe—automatic support for the polyphonic analysis of CSCL chats Int J Comput Support Collab Learn, Springer 9:127–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turing AM (1950) Computing machinery and intelligence Mind, 59, pp 433–460

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Voloshinov V (1973) Marxism and the philosophy of language. Seminar Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky L (1978) Mind in society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Weizenbaum J (1966) ELIZA—a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine. Commun ACM 9(1):36–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winograd T (1987) Thinking machines: can there be? Are we?, Report No. STAN-CS-87-1161, Stanford

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank to Gerry Stahl for his encouragement in my research toward the development of the polyphonic model and analysis method starting from Bakhtin’s ideas. I also want to thank to the anonymous reviewers for their useful recommendations.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan Trausan-Matu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Trausan-Matu, S. Is it possible to grow an I–Thou relation with an artificial agent? A dialogistic perspective. AI & Soc 34, 9–17 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0696-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0696-5

Keywords

Navigation