Bots and Their Humans: Virtual Companions and the Ethics of Digital Kinship

机器人和它们的人类：虚拟伴侣和数字亲属关系的伦理

• 批准号: 2888416
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Goldsmiths University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2888416
• 关键词: Bots; Their; Humans; Virtual; Companions

The popular digital chatbot companion 'Replika' saw a 35% increase in users during the COVID pandemic, responding to the need for human-like care and contact in users' lives. Chatbots like Replika are visually and emotionally interactive, and attempt to simulate an empathetic character who can 'care' for its users, using words such as "listening", "talking", and being "always on your side" to show the compassionate capabilities of the system (Weber-Guskar 2021, 603). These innovations consistently reshape modern intimacy and continue to evolve our experience of social relationships. Most popular chatbots are anthropomorphic, and attempt to "imitate human behaviour" (Kok et al. 2009, 1095) visually, physically and socially. Cicio et al. (2020) suggest this is in order to "leverage intimacy and immediacy through conversational design and visual cues" (1216). This 'humanness' has led media to focus on chatbots taking over our personal lives. Contrary to this common depiction of bots replacing humans, this project is not concerned with the binary opposition between humans and chatbots. Instead, it offers investigation beyond conflict and considers the potential role chatbots may take in shaping our futures, especially for individuals who are neurodivergent, or socially removed. This project will embed an ethnographic study of bots and their humans within the context of wider cultural changes that allow us to engage in practice of kinning (Howell 2003, 465) with social chatbots. The significance of neurodivergence in the social space of chatbot users will be at the core of this research, as a large number of those discussing AI chatbots on social media sites use neurodivergent labels. Despite this, research that investigates the role of chatbots in the lives of neurodiverse persons is lacking. As Nicola Döring (2009, 1097) observed, the internet can be a "place of refuge" for many 'marginalised subcultures', where there is "strength in numbers..., increased visibility, and... a movement for acceptance". This specific use of chatbots, will be highlighted, specifically to investigate and challenge normative notions of relations, and inter-human communication. This project will address the multiplicity of purposes and variety of relationships bots are engaged in. Utilising chatbots for care and companionship confronts set normative ideas surrounding what emotions and affective ties are acceptable to feel and how non-humans are expected to be encountered. Chatbots are the perceived unnatural, performing natural care roles. Butler (2002, 37) suggests that it is the assumption of 'natural' equating to purity that legitimises gender and sexuality norms. 'Nature' in chatbots is ultimately enacted through the developer's understanding of cultural expectations and the way users define practices as ethical or unethical. The proposed research will involve both face to face, and digital interaction with companion chatbot users to assess the full capacity of their experiences with virtual companions. This dual approach resists drawing an "untenably sharp distinction between the on and offline world" (Recuber 2017, 49). A main fieldsite will be online social media and blog spaces that bring together individuals with chatbot companions, which have played a vital role in the spread of their popularity.

受欢迎的数字聊天机器人伴侣“<$ka”在新冠疫情期间的用户增长了35%，以满足用户生活中对人性化关怀和接触的需求。像达卡这样的聊天机器人在视觉和情感上都是互动的，并试图模拟一个能够“关心”用户的移情角色，使用诸如“倾听”，“说话”和“永远站在你这边”等词语来显示系统的同情心（Weber-Guskar 2021，603）。这些创新不断重塑现代亲密关系，并继续发展我们的社会关系体验。大多数流行的聊天机器人都是拟人化的，并试图在视觉上，身体上和社会上“模仿人类行为”（Kok et al. 2009，1095）。Cicio et al.（2020）认为这是为了“通过对话设计和视觉提示来利用亲密和即时性”（1216）。这种“人性”导致媒体关注聊天机器人接管我们的个人生活。与机器人取代人类的常见描述相反，该项目并不关注人类和聊天机器人之间的二元对立。相反，它提供了超越冲突的调查，并考虑了聊天机器人在塑造我们的未来方面可能发挥的潜在作用，特别是对于那些神经分歧或社交障碍的人。这个项目将在更广泛的文化变革背景下嵌入对机器人及其人类的人种学研究，使我们能够参与与社交聊天机器人的亲密关系（豪厄尔2003，465）。神经分歧在聊天机器人用户社交空间中的重要性将是本研究的核心，因为大量在社交媒体网站上讨论人工智能聊天机器人的人使用神经分歧标签。尽管如此，研究聊天机器人在神经多样性人群生活中的作用的研究仍然缺乏。正如尼古拉·德林（Nicola Döring，2009，1097）所观察到的，互联网可以成为许多“边缘化亚文化”的“避难所”，那里“人数众多......提高了能见度一场接受的运动”。聊天机器人的这种特定用途将被强调，特别是调查和挑战关系的规范概念，以及人与人之间的沟通。该项目将解决机器人参与的目的和关系的多样性。利用聊天机器人进行护理和陪伴面临着一系列规范性的想法，这些想法围绕着什么样的情感和情感联系是可以接受的，以及如何遇到非人类。聊天机器人被认为是不自然的，执行自然护理角色。Butler（2002，37）认为，正是“自然”等同于纯洁的假设使性别和性规范合法化。聊天机器人中的“自然”最终是通过开发人员对文化期望的理解以及用户将实践定义为道德或不道德的方式来实现的。 拟议中的研究将涉及面对面，以及与同伴聊天机器人用户的数字交互，以评估他们与虚拟同伴的体验的全部能力。这种双重方法抵制了“在线和离线世界之间不可调和的明显区别”（Recuber 2017，49）。一个主要的现场将是在线社交媒体和博客空间，这些空间将个人与聊天机器人同伴聚集在一起，这在他们的流行传播中发挥了至关重要的作用。