Would You Dine With Me Again? Reducing Negative Emotions While Eating with an Artificial Companion

Abstract

The use of interactive technologies to support commensality is a growing area of research. In this paper, we evaluate the emotional impact of a virtual agent acting as a commensal companion. For this purpose, we developed an agent capable of interacting with individuals during meals, supporting real-time verbal and nonverbal interactions. The dialogue component leverages a large language model, while nonverbal behaviors are generated through the procedural approach. Seventeen participants interacted with our agent while eating lunch. Analyses show that interacting with the agent during a meal reduces reported negative affect in human commensals, but does not change positive affect. We conclude by discussing whether such companions could, in the future, help support the affective well-being of human commensals.