Apr 27, 2020 11:23:00

Experimental result that talking to Alexa makes you not afraid to speak in public

A research team at Pennsylvania State University found that Amazon's AI assistant,

Alexa, could ease the anxiety of speaking in public.

Anxious about public speaking? Your smart speaker could help | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/ps-aap042420.php

'If you can use a machine like an Alexa-powered smart speaker to provide the right training for someone who is uncomfortable with their speech or social relationships, you can use Alexa as a communication teacher,' says Pennsylvania. This is a research team of Shyam Sundar and co-founder of State University Institute for Media Effects. To prove this, the research team conducted an experiment using Amazon Echo.

In the experiment, first, prepare an Amazon Echo equipped with 'Alexa with high sociality who actively talks personally' and 'Alexa with low sociality who does not often say greetings and conversations', and talk to the subject randomly with either I was allowed to. Subject was then instructed to hold a speech presentation using VR software that mimics a room with 20 audiences. After the presentation, we conducted a questionnaire to see what the subjects had at the presentation.

by The Unwinder

As a result, it was found that the participants who had talked with 'Highly social Alexa' were less anxious about their speech by building a close relationship with Alexa.

Saeed Abdullah, a member of the research team, said of the result: 'The normal interaction with Alexa is very functional but dry. But if some kind of social clue is provided through Alexa, users will You can get positive results. '

`` People who talked to Alexa were more than just anthropomorphic Alexa, they felt a sense of intimacy with the machine, which made them more sociable and eventually less anxious about speaking in public. The results of this study show that smart speakers such as Alexa can be turned into applications like smart speakers that act as helpers and coaches, rather than just a tool for answering questions. '

Through future research, the research team aims to realize smart speakers that can support not only the anxiety of speaking in public but also other people with various anxieties.