Digital Humans: Putting a Face on AI Agents

If Siri had a human face, would you trust her more? Or would it make you feel uneasy? Digital humans are virtual agents controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years, companies have been developing very realistic looking digital humans (see below), but how do users feel about interacting with them when they are used as virtual agents? We used a controlled lab experiment to examine users’ behavior, trust, affinity, and preference towards a real human travel agent appearing via video (e.g., Zoom) as well a very realistic avatar. The conclusion is that improved visual fidelity alone makes a significant positive difference and that users are not averse to advanced AI simulating human presence, some may even be anticipating such an advanced technology.

Alan R. Dennis is Professor of Information Systems and holds the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He was named a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems in 2012 and received the LEO award in 2021.  His research has been reported in the popular press almost 1000 times, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, The Atlantic, CBS, Fox Business Network, PBS, Canada’s CBC and CTV, UK’s Daily Mail and the Telegraph, Australia’s ABC, France’s Le Figaro, South Africa’s Sowetan Live, Chile’s El Mercurio, China Daily, India’s Hindustan Times, and Indonesia’s Tribune News. He also has written four books (two on data communications and networking, and two on systems analysis and design). He is a Past President of the Association for Information Systems, and also served as Vice President for Conferences.