Speaking without intention: Austin’s Speech Act Theory in the Age of AI

Conversational AI is, nowadays, widely spread and investigated, shaping the way we interact with technology. Despite its extensive use, it is not clear if the technology we are experiencing at this time is actually able to communicate from a linguistic perspective. In this sense, it is important to study Conversational AI approaches in comparison with linguistic theories to find flaws and identify limits. These theories provide deep insights into language structure and usage, essential for creating more human-like conversational agents. Specifically, the aim here is to emphasise how the integration of the speech act theory can lead to a new frontier of conversational AI based on linguistics that, instead of representing language uses only on a statistical basis, can take into account aspects that make the conversation more human-like. <a href="https://medium.com/urban-eco-research/speaking-without-intention-austins-speech-act-theory-in-the-age-of-ai-0d6424031c4b">Website</a>