Designing a realistic peer-like embodied conversational agent for supporting children's storytelling

TL;DR

This paper presents the design of a peer-like embodied conversational agent named STARie, integrating multiple AI models to support storytelling in children aged 4-8, while discussing ethical considerations and design challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel AI-powered ECA prototype for children's storytelling, combining GPT-3, speech synthesis, and animation models, and addresses ethical issues in child-centered AI design.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates potential for supporting children's narrative skills.

Highlights ethical and privacy considerations in child-focused AI design.

Provides insights into integrating multiple AI models for realistic ECAs.

Abstract

Advances in artificial intelligence have facilitated the use of large language models (LLMs) and AI-generated synthetic media in education, which may inspire HCI researchers to develop technologies, in particular, embodied conversational agents (ECAs) to simulate the kind of scaffolding children might receive from a human partner. In this paper, we will propose a design prototype of a peer-like ECA named STARie that integrates multiple AI models - GPT-3, Speech Synthesis (Real-time Voice Cloning), VOCA (Voice Operated Character Animation), and FLAME (Faces Learned with an Articulated Model and Expressions) that aims to support narrative production in collaborative storytelling, specifically for children aged 4-8. However, designing a child-centered ECA raises concerns about age appropriateness, children privacy, gender choices of ECAs, and the uncanny valley effect. Thus, this paper will also discuss considerations and ethical concerns that must be taken into account when designing such an ECA. This proposal offers insights into the potential use of AI-generated synthetic media in child-centered AI design and how peer-like AI embodiment may support children\textquotesingle s storytelling.