Social Network Chatbots for Smoking Cessation: Agent and Multi-Agent Frameworks

Asynchronous messaging is leading human-machine interaction due to the boom of mobile devices and social networks. The recent release of dedicated APIs from messaging platforms boosted the development of computer programs able to conduct conversations, (i.e., chatbots), which have been adopted in several domain-specific contexts. This paper proposes SMAG: a chatbot framework supporting a smoking cessation program (JDF) deployed on a social network. In particular, it details the single-agent implementation, the campaign results, a multi-agent design for SMAG enabling the modelization of personalized behavior and user profiling, and highlighting of coupling chatbot technology with and multi-agent systems. CCS CONCEPTS • Applied computing → Health informatics; • Information systems → Personalization; Social networks; • Human-centered computing → Web-based interaction; Natural language interfaces.