Autumn 2024
Design Principles for AI Companions
Co-Directed by PhD student Soobin Cho and Dr. Mark Zachry
This DRG aims to collaboratively build design principles for AI companions. AI companions are AI-based chatbots that are focused on social and interpersonal interaction with people, rather than on practical or assistive roles. With advancements in Generative AI, the potential functions for these AI companions are rapidly developing. Such bots, unlike other AI chatbots, must be designed to emphasize companion-specific values, including use of natural and human-centered conversational styles to meet emotional and social needs. Design principles are needed to understand and assess this new interactive technology.
In this DRG, participants will iteratively evaluate and refine ideas to arrive at a final recommended set of design principles. This process will involve exploring, evaluating, and applying diverse design principles from related fields, researching and analyzing AI companion chatbots that are currently available, planning and conducting user studies to build user journeys/scenarios, and participating in focus-group interviews and workshops to conduct heuristic evaluations of existing companion bots.
We are looking for 8-10 students with:
- prior experience conducting heuristic evaluation
- prior experience planning and conducting user studies
- professional and/or internship experience in UX research or design (preferred)
This 2-credit DRG is offered to undergraduate (HCDE 496) and graduate (HCDE 596) students. Students participating in this DRG are required to attend in-person weekly meetings on Wednesdays from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM, as the development of the principles will occur primarily during this time. Additionally, students are expected to spend 3 to 5 additional hours per week outside of class. Everyone participating in the DRG must be registered for either HCDE 496 or 596.
Deadline: Fill out this Google Form to apply for this DRG by September 13, 2024. Please reach out to Soobin Cho through email (soobin30@uw.edu) or HCDE Slack with any questions.