Conversational Systems: between privacy and functionality

Abstract

Technology has made possible all kinds of changes in society, one of the most important is reflected in the way in which we relate to our environment. Thus, conversational systems enable various types of interactions in a simple and permanent way, while their impact becomes staggered according to their potential and functionalities within the environments in which they are incorporated. In this sense, by simulating specific human characteristics, these systems intervene without major problem in the development of a conversation, thus generating an attitude of greater or lesser confidence in their responses, which will lead to certain decisions being made by people; and being designed entities, they can adopt the “forms” and “attitudes” that we decide based on the information we provide, so that various aspects of user privacy are seriously compromised. Unquestionably the rapid development and interest in introducing conversational systems in all the activities of our daily life consolidates the premise that the more widespread its use, the greater the amount of personal data that will be available to third parties and consequently various considerations about privacy must be rethought.