Crafting Human-AI Interaction: A Rhetorical Approach to Adaptive Interaction in Conversational Agents

As we navigate through the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), human-AI interactions have implications across various fields. Despite significant technical advancements, the interaction aspect remains challenging and continues to impact user trust and acceptance of the systems. Addressing this research gap, this paper introduces an approach for adaptive human-AI interaction or communication, particularly conversational agents. Drawing inspiration from classical rhetoric – ‘ethos, logos and pathos’, we propose a framework to integrate adaptive interaction strategies in the design of AI-enabled conversational agents. The method emphasizes on using a user-centered approach to design adaptive interaction with AI-based conversational agents based on the user and context of use. This paper discusses theoretical concepts, a sample application, and considerations from a human-factors perspective for designing intuitive and meaningful interactions between humans and AI leading to a positive user experience, trust and acceptance of AI-based systems.