Crossing the Tepper Line: An Emerging Ontology for Describing the Dynamic Sociality of Embodied AI

TL;DR

This paper introduces an ontology and heuristic called the Tepper line to describe how embodied AI systems dynamically become socially embodied in interactive contexts, supported by expert insights and case studies.

Contribution

It presents a novel ontology and a heuristic threshold for understanding the transition of embodied AI into socially embodied AI in various interactive scenarios.

Findings

The Tepper line heuristic effectively captures the social transition of embodied AI.

Expert insights validate the ontology and heuristic.

Case studies demonstrate the dynamic nature of social embodiment in AI.

Abstract

Artificial intelligences (AI) are increasingly being embodied and embedded in the world to carry out tasks and support decision-making with and for people. Robots, recommender systems, voice assistants, virtual humans - do these disparate types of embodied AI have something in common? Here we show how they can manifest as "socially embodied AI." We define this as the state that embodied AI "circumstantially" take on within interactive contexts when perceived as both social and agentic by people. We offer a working ontology that describes how embodied AI can dynamically transition into socially embodied AI. We propose an ontological heuristic for describing the threshold: the Tepper line. We reinforce our theoretical work with expert insights from a card sort workshop. We end with two case studies to illustrate the dynamic and contextual nature of this heuristic.