Understanding Public Perceptions of AI Conversational Agents: A
  Cross-Cultural Analysis
Zihan Liu Han Li Anfan Chen Renwen Zhang Yi-Chieh Lee
Conversational Agents (CAs) have increasingly been integrated into everyday
life, sparking significant discussions on social media. While previous research
has examined public perceptions of AI in general, there is a notable lack in
research focused on CAs, with fewer investigations into cultural variations in
CA perceptions. To address this gap, this study used computational methods to
analyze about one million social media discussions surrounding CAs and compared
people's discourses and perceptions of CAs in the US and China. We find Chinese
participants tended to view CAs hedonically, perceived voice-based and
physically embodied CAs as warmer and more competent, and generally expressed
positive emotions. In contrast, US participants saw CAs more functionally, with
an ambivalent attitude. Warm perception was a key driver of positive emotions
toward CAs in both countries. We discussed practical implications for designing
contextually sensitive and user-centric CAs to resonate with various users'
preferences and needs.