Brian Stelbotsky, a doctoral candidate in the Public Policy and Administration program, recently published an article titled “Can Chatbots Represent? Examining the Potential for Symbolic Representation in Automated Service Agents” for Public Management Review.
In the article, Stelbotsky and co-author Sanghee Park explain that generative AI has become increasingly prevalent in public organizations, and chatbots have been widely adopted in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public services. The authors write that these chatbots are occasionally designed with human-like visual characteristics.
The study examines individuals’ preferences for human vs. chatbot services, in the context of public higher education, and considers how designing chatbots with human-like traits such as gender and race may influence those preferences.
While the study suggests that such chatbot characteristics have limited impact on which type of service delivery people prefer, the results do indicate that demographic representation matters when service agents are human. Stelbotsky and Park conclude that this study has implications for public managers as they consider the use of chatbots in their public organizations.