Learning from Intelligent Social Agents as Social and Intellectual Mirrors

AbstractThe interaction capabilities of Intelligent Social Agents, made possible by advances in artificial intelligence, are eliciting deep emotional bonding with users, leading researchers to reexamine the impact and potential uses of these human-machine relationships in education. In this work, we examine how one best-in-class ISA, Replika, might be affecting users socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Our results indicate that many use Replika as a social and cognitive mirror, facilitating their learning and development this way. The confluence of new functionality, product narrative, and user life stressors make ISAs an emerging tool for not only emotional support, but also cognitive support and development.