Prof. Dr. Nicole Krämer on the podium at a "Herrenhäuser Gespräch" in Hannover on February 14, 2019 on the topic "Artificial Intelligence - Do the machines rule or do we master them?" (Photo: Nico Herzog for Volkswagen Foundation)
For the social psychologist Nicole Krämer from the University of Duisburg-Essen, there is also a much more fundamental question: How is daily contact with intelligent machines likely to change communication in our society? Over the next four years, she will be trying to answer this question in the frame of an interdisciplinary research project – together with colleagues from the fields of ethics, computer science and law. "When talking to people, we have at least an idea of how the other person thinks," she says, "but when we communicate with a technical device, we are talking to a black box for which we have no such mental conception. We don't know how their answers or decisions actually come about."
It is expected that the project will also provide insights for the further development of voice command devices. The computer scientists in the team are working on self-learning devices that instead of providing standard answers are able to gradually get to know the user – and can therefore respond according to his or her preferences and needs. For this purpose, the project will use machine learning methods that are able to recognize patterns and regularities in spoken language. As for the legal experts in the project, their focus is to ensure that the technologies meet all requirements, for example with regard to data protection, from the outset.
Research design and test environment
For computer scientist Professor Barbara Hammer from the University of Bielefeld and her 'Machine Learning Group', this project is special because it is so encompassing. Not only because of the interdisciplinary approach, but also because three different user groups are in the focus: children, middle-aged and retired people. "This provides us with a unique test environment in which we can comprehensively explore new technologies before they later become more widely used," says Barbara Hammer.
... children who are used to giving commands to voice command forget to say 'please' and 'thank you'
The project participants are jointly concerned with three main aspects: the type of communication, the relationship between humans and machines, and the question of how transparent a machine is. In other words, how or why it gives a certain answer. A different focus is set depending on the age group and user. "Children quickly build up a relationship with things: take cuddly toys, for instance," explains Prof. Dr. Nicole Krämer. "In this part of the project, our main focus is on what type of relationship is formed." The researchers will investigate how communication between child and machine takes place, and whether the child's behavior is also reflected in their interaction with people. "In the US, for example, it has been found that children who are used to giving commands to voice command forget to say 'please' and 'thank you'," says Nicole Krämer. Since many parents today already put a smart speaker in their children's room, the question arises as to what effect this has on them.