A Wizard-of-Oz Study on A Non-Task-Oriented Dialog Systems That Reacts to User Engagement

In this paper, we describe a system that reacts to both possible system breakdowns and low user engagement with a set of conversational strategies. These general strategies reduce the number of inappropriate responses and produce better user engagement. We also found that a system that reacts to both possible system breakdowns and low user engagement is rated by both experts and non-experts as having better overall user engagement compared to a system that only reacts to possible system breakdowns. We argue that for non-task-oriented systems we should optimize on both system response appropriateness and user engagement. We also found that apart from making the system response appropriate, funny and provocative responses can also lead to better user engagement. On the other hand, short appropriate responses, such as “Yes” or “No” can lead to decreased user engagement. We will use these findings to further improve our system.