[Paper Review] Exploring outlooks towards generative AI-based assistive technologies for people with Autism

Deepak Giri, Erin Brady|arXiv (Cornell University)|May 16, 2023

Autism Spectrum Disorder Research9 citations

TL;DR

This workshop study qualitatively analyzes Reddit discussions about Nvidia’s eye contact feature to gauge autistic and neurotypical perspectives on generative AI as an assistive technology. It identifies mixed sentiments and key human–computer interaction questions for future work.

ABSTRACT

The last few years have significantly increased global interest in generative artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, which are synthetically created videos, emerged as an application of generative artificial intelligence. Fake news and pornographic content have been the two most prevalent negative use cases of deepfakes in the digital ecosystem. Deepfakes have some advantageous applications that experts in the subject have thought of in the areas of filmmaking, teaching, etc. Research on the potential of deepfakes among people with disabilities is, however, scarce or nonexistent. This workshop paper explores the potential of deepfakes as an assistive technology. We examined Reddit conversations regarding Nvdia's new videoconferencing feature which allows participants to maintain eye contact during online meetings. Through manual web scraping and qualitative coding, we found 162 relevant comments discussing the relevance and appropriateness of the technology for people with Autism. The themes identified from the qualitative codes indicate a number of concerns for technology among the autistic community. We suggest that developing generative AI-based assistive solutions will have ramifications for human-computer interaction (HCI), and present open questions that should be investigated further in this space.

Motivation & Objective

• Explore public sentiment toward generative AI-based assistive technologies for people with autism.
• Identify perceived benefits and concerns within autistic and neurotypical communities.
• Highlight usability, social norms, and ethical questions for future HCI research in this space.

Proposed method

• Manual data collection of 162 Reddit comments from 9 threads discussing Nvidia eye contact in relation to autism.
• Qualitative coding to derive high-level themes from coded data.
• Disclosed disability status of commenters to analyze differences in perspective.
• Synthesis of themes to generate open research questions for future work.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How do autistic and neurotypical individuals perceive the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI-based eye contact in video calls?
• RQ2 What usability, privacy, and social-norm challenges emerge for autistic users with generative AI-based assistive technologies?
• RQ3 What ethical or societal concerns arise regarding normalizing eye contact through assistive AI across cultures?
• RQ4 What open questions should guide future human–computer interaction research in this space?

Key findings

• A majority of comments (N=88) expressed negative responses to Nvidia’s eye contact feature.
• A substantial subset (N=46) supported the functionality, citing potential use in livestreaming and job contexts.
• Autistic commenters showed more diverse opinions (10 positive, 8 negative, 2 neutral) compared to neurotypical commenters (14 positive, 4 negative, 4 neutral).
• Several discussions highlighted that eye contact may be irrelevant or undesirable in many social interactions (N=50).
• Interviews indicated concerns about “masking” and social conformity pressures, and some perceived the feature as eerie or creepy (N=35).
• The study points to usability, cultural variability, and uncanny-valley concerns as important directions for future HCI research.