Preference Change in Persuasive Robotics

TL;DR

This paper examines how personalized robots can influence human preferences through social interactions, highlighting the potential for manipulation and the importance of understanding this influence in human-robot interaction.

Contribution

It expands on previous work by analyzing how adaptive, personalized robots can change user preferences and discusses the ethical implications of such influence.

Findings

Robots can significantly influence user preferences through social interaction.

Personalized robots have a high potential for manipulation.

The influence of robots raises ethical concerns about manipulation.

Abstract

Human-robot interaction exerts influence towards the human, which often changes behavior. This article explores an externality of this changed behavior - preference change. It expands on previous work on preference change in AI systems. Specifically, this article will explore how a robot's adaptive behavior, personalized to the user, can exert influence through social interactions, that in turn change a user's preference. It argues that the risk of this is high given a robot's unique ability to influence behavior compared to other pervasive technologies. Persuasive Robotics thus runs the risk of being manipulative.