mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Does My Chatbot Have an Agenda? Understanding Human and AI Agency in Human-Human-like Chatbot Interaction

arXiv 2601.22452 ↗First posted 30 Jan 2026cs.HC cs.AIcited by 3

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Abstract (arXiv)

As AI chatbots shift from tools to companions, critical questions arise: who controls the conversation in human-AI chatrooms? This paper explores perceived human and AI agency in sustained conversation. We report a month-long longitudinal study with 22 adults who chatted with Day, an LLM companion we built, followed by a semi-structured interview with post-hoc elicitation of notable moments, cross-participant chat reviews, and a 'strategy reveal' disclosing Day's goal for each conversation. We discover agency manifests as an emergent, shared experience: as participants set boundaries and the AI steered intentions, control was co-constructed turn-by-turn. We introduce a 3-by-4 framework mapping actors (Human, AI, Hybrid) by their action (Intention, Execution, Adaptation, Delimitation), modulated by individual and environmental factors. We argue for translucent design (transparency-on-demand) and provide implications for agency self-aware conversational agents.

Key facts. Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 29 of its 126 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 30 Jan 2026.

Builds on

29 of 126 references.

References · 29

  1. 2022Training language models to follow instructions with human feedbackcited by 15,712
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17 more
  1. 2024"My agent understands me better": Integrating Dynamic Human-like Memory Recall and Consolidation in LLM-Based Agentscited by 29
  2. 2025Customizing Emotional Support: How Do Individuals Construct and Interact With LLM-Powered Chatbotscited by 25
  3. 2024ComPeer: A Generative Conversational Agent for Proactive Peer Supportcited by 24
  4. 2024The Typing Cure: Experiences with Large Language Model Chatbots for Mental Health Supportcited by 23
  5. 2023Computers as Bad Social Actors: Dark Patterns and Anti-Patterns in Interfaces that Act Sociallycited by 20
  6. 2024Understanding the Impact of Long-Term Memory on Self-Disclosure with Large Language Model-Driven Chatbots for Public Health Interventioncited by 15
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  8. 2023How does HCI Understand Human Autonomy and Agency?cited by 14
  9. 2024Listening to the Voices: Describing Ethical Caveats of Conversational User Interfaces According to Experts and Frequent Userscited by 8
  10. 2024How Does Conversation Length Impact User's Satisfaction? A Case Study of Length-Controlled Conversations with LLM-Powered Chatbotscited by 8
  11. 2025The Impact of a Chatbot's Ephemerality-Framing on Self-Disclosure Perceptionscited by 6
  12. 2025Exploring Socio-Cultural Challenges and Opportunities in Designing Mental Health Chatbots for Adolescents in Indiacited by 5
  13. 2025AI-Enabled Conversational Journaling for Advancing Parkinson's Disease Symptom Trackingcited by 4
  14. 2022The Theory, Practice, and Ethical Challenges of Designing a Diversity-Aware Platform for Social Relationscited by 3
  15. 2023What Lies Beneath? Exploring the Impact of Underlying AI Model Updates in AI-Infused Systemscited by 3
  16. 2023Towards Designing a Question-Answering Chatbot for Online News: Understanding Questions and Perspectivescited by 3
  17. 2025Conversation Progress Guide : UI System for Enhancing Self-Efficacy in Conversational AIcited by 2

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 3.

3 papers.

  1. 2026Metacognition in LLMs: Foundations, Progress, and Opportunitiescited by 1
  2. 2026AI Phenomenology for Understanding Human-AI Experiences Across Erascited by 0
  3. 2026The Epistemic Politics of AI Anthropomorphismcited by 0