Human-Agent Interaction and Human Dependency: Possible New Approaches for Old Challenges

The role of intelligent agents in research on AI is becoming increasingly significant. The study of embodied intelligent systems, such as social and companion robots, is growing steadily in proportion to the previsions that they will become increasingly involved in the everyday lives of individuals. Non-embodied intelligent systems, such as chatbots or virtual voice assistants, are already part of many people’s everyday experience, being constantly at their disposal. This necessitates a re-evaluation of society as we know it, which must be conceived as a ‘hybrid society’. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how, in such a scenario, a truly human-centred development of intelligent agents necessitates a design that does not capitalise or exploit the natural inclination towards human attachment and empathy, but rather incorporates this into a more responsible framework for human-agent interaction (henceforth HAI). In order to achieve this objective, the topic of human dependency is presented, analysed, and interpreted in the light of one of its main theorisation, formulated in the socio-legal domain. The merit of such a theoretical framework is that it is flexible enough to be applied to all those elements that, once introduced into society, can affect it and alter its equilibrium. This is undoubtedly the case with the artificial agents designated for HAI. Building on this, the paper demonstrates how such an approach could be employed to analyse the dynamics of HAI in a truly human-centred manner, thereby providing a foundation for the future design of artificial agents and the dynamics of interaction with end-users.