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. 2021 May 25;30(4):450–464. doi: 10.1007/s11518-021-5497-1

Argumentative Conversational Agents for Online Discussions

Rafik Hadfi 1,✉, Jawad Haqbeen 2, Sofia Sahab 1, Takayuki Ito 1
PMCID: PMC8143987  PMID: 34054250

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising our communication practices and the ways in which we interact with each other. This revolution does not only impact how we communicate, but it affects the nature of the partners with whom we communicate. Online discussion platforms now allow humans to communicate with artificial agents in the form of socialbots. Such agents have the potential to moderate online discussions and even manipulate and alter public opinions. In this paper, we propose to study this phenomenon using a constructed large-scale agent platform. At the heart of the platform lies an artificial agent that can moderate online discussions using argumentative messages. We investigate the influence of the agent on the evolution of an online debate involving human participants. The agent will dynamically react to their messages by moderating, supporting, or attacking their stances. We conducted two experiments to evaluate the platform while looking at the effects of the conversational agent. The first experiment is a large-scale discussion with 1076 citizens from Afghanistan discussing urban policy-making in the city of Kabul. The goal of the experiment was to increase the citizen involvement in implementing Sustainable Development Goals. The second experiment is a small-scale debate between a group of 16 students about globalisation and taxation in Myanmar. In the first experiment, we found that the agent improved the responsiveness of the participants and increased the number of identified ideas and issues. In the second experiment, we found that the agent polarised the debate by reinforcing the initial stances of the participant.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, conversational agents, natural language processing, online discussion, computational social science

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This work was supported by JST CREST Grant Number JPMJCR15E1, Japan.

Footnotes

Rafik Hadfi is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Social Informatics at Kyoto University. He received his M.Eng. and D.Eng. degrees from Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2012 and 2015. His work spans a broad range of disciplines and R&D activities including automated decision-making and the simulation of smart cities, online debates, and biological organisms. He is currently working on AI-enabled platforms to foster democratic deliberation, sustainable development, and gender equality.

Jawad Haqbeen received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from Nangarhar University, Afghanistan and Waseda University, Japan, in 2010 and 2013, respectively. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in artificial intelligence from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan. His main research interests include conversational agents, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing and applying artificial intelligence to civic technologies. He was the recipient of the Global Young Scientist Summit award in 2021 and Best International Conference Paper Award in 2020. He is a member of IEEE and IPSJ societies.

Sofia Sahab received the B.S. degree in architectural engineering from Kabul University in 2009, and M.E., and doctor of engineering degrees in urban planning from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, in 2014 and 2017, respectively. She is currently specially appointed researcher at Kyoto University, Japan. She previously worked as assistant professor with Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, and Kabul University, Afghanistan. Her current research interests include participative decision support system, participatory urban planning, participatory e-planning, and civic technologies. She has published research articles in journals, such as Journal of Simulation and Gaming (SAGE Publications) and Journal of Architecture and Planning (Transections of Architectural Institute of Japan).

Takayuki Ito is professor of Kyoto University. He received the B.E., M.E, and Doctor of Engineering from the Nagoya Institute of Technology (NIT) in 1995, 1997, and 2000, respectively. From 1999 to 2001, he was a research fellow of the JSPS. From 2000 to 2001, he was a visiting researcher at USC/ISI. From April 2001 to March 2003, he was an associate professor of JAIST. From April 2004 to March 2013, he was an associate professor of NIT. From April 2014 to September 2020, he was a professor of NIT. From October 2020, he is a professor of Kyoto University. From 2005 to 2006, he is a visiting researcher at Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University and a visiting researcher at the Center for Coordination Science, MIT Sloan School of Management. From 2008 to 2010, he was a visiting researcher at the Center for Collective Intelligence, MIT Sloan School of Management. From 2017 to 2018, he is an invited researcher of Artificial Intelligence Center of AIST, JAPAN. From March 5 2019 he is the CTO of AgreeBit inc. as an entrepreneur.

Contributor Information

Rafik Hadfi, Email: rafik.hadfi@i.kyoto-u.ac.jp.

Jawad Haqbeen, Email: jawad.haqbeen@itolab.nitech.ac.jp.

Sofia Sahab, Email: sahab.sofia.4h@kyoto-u.ac.jp.

Takayuki Ito, Email: ito@i.kyoto-u.ac.jp.

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