# What Makes a Good Conversation? Challenges in Designing Truly Conversational Agents

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.06525 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.06525/

## Key facts

- Cited by 42 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 19 Jan 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 42)

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- [Characterizing and modeling harms from interactions with design patterns in AI interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.11370/) (2024)
- [Understanding Public Perceptions of AI Conversational Agents: A Cross-Cultural Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16039/) (2024)
- [Rewriting the Script: Adapting Text Instructions for Voice Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09992/) (2023)
- ["I Like Sunnie More Than I Expected!": Exploring User Expectation and Perception of an Anthropomorphic LLM-based Conversational Agent for Well-Being Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.13803/) (2024)
- [Beyond Discrete Personas: Personality Modeling Through Journal Intensive Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11250/) (2024)
- [Echoes of Discord: Forecasting Hater Reactions to Counterspeech](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16235/) (2025)
- [I Was Blind but Now I See: Implementing Vision-Enabled Dialogue in Social Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.08957/) (2023)
- [Coimagining the Future of Voice Assistants with Cultural Sensitivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17599/) (2024)
- [A Cause-Effect Look at Alleviating Hallucination of Knowledge-grounded Dialogue Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03491/) (2024)
- [Expressivity and Speech Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19363/) (2024)
- [The Interaction Layer: An Exploration for Co-Designing User-LLM Interactions in Parental Wellbeing Support Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.01228/) (2024)
- [LGBTQ-AI? Exploring Expressions of Gender and Sexual Orientation in Chatbots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02076/) (2021)
- [Design and Evaluation of Generative Agent-based Platform for Human-Assistant Interaction Research: A Tale of 10 User Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.09938/) (2025)
- [DialToM: A Theory of Mind Benchmark for Forecasting State-Driven Dialogue Trajectories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.20443/) (2026)
- [Leveraging Interesting Facts to Enhance User Engagement with Conversational Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06659/) (2024)
- [Qualitative Approaches to Voice UX](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14736/) (2024)
- [From Human-to-Human to Human-to-Bot Conversations in Software Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12712/) (2024)
- [LLM-Mediated Domain-Specific Voice Agents: The Case of TextileBot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.10590/) (2024)
- [Introducing MeMo: A Multimodal Dataset for Memory Modelling in Multiparty Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13715/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Conversational agents promise conversational interaction but fail to deliver. Efforts often emulate functional rules from human speech, without considering key characteristics that conversation must encapsulate. Given its potential in supporting long-term human-agent relationships, it is paramount that HCI focuses efforts on delivering this promise. We aim to understand what people value in conversation and how this should manifest in agents. Findings from a series of semi-structured interviews show people make a clear dichotomy between social and functional roles of conversation, emphasising the long-term dynamics of bond and trust along with the importance of context and relationship stage in the types of conversations they have. People fundamentally questioned the need for bond and common ground in agent communication, shifting to more utilitarian definitions of conversational qualities. Drawing on these findings we discuss key challenges for conversational agent design, most notably the need to redefine the design parameters for conversational agent interaction.