PUBLICATION
In Search of Dark Patterns in Chatbots
Type
Conference Paper
Year
2023
Authors
Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Heil
Julián Grigera
Alejandra Garrido
Research Area
Event
Published in
CONVERSATIONS 2023
Download
Abstract
While Dark Patterns are widely present in graphical user interfaces, in this research we set out to find out whether they are also starting to appear in Chatbots. Dark Patterns are intentionally deceptive designs that trick users into acting contrary to their intention - and in favor of the organization that implements them. Chatbots, as a kind of conversational user interface, can potentially also suffer from Dark Patterns or other poor interaction design, sometimes referred to as Usability Smells. This keeps users from easily achieving their goals and can lead to frustration or limitations for users. To find Dark Patterns and Usability Smells, we analyzed user reports of negative experiences. Since we found no well known dataset of reports, we created the ChIPS dataset with 69 complaints from different web sources, and then classified them as one of 16 established Dark Patterns, potential new Dark Patterns, Usability Smells, or neither. Results show that, even though there are instances of established Dark Patterns, negative experiences usually are caused by chatbot defects, high expectations from users, or non-intuitive interactions.
Reference
Traubinger, Verena; Heil, Sebastian; Grigera, Julián; Garrido, Alejandra; Gaedke, Martin: In Search of Dark Patterns in Chatbots. CONVERSATIONS 2023, 2023.
