Controllable AI: Lessons from the Past & The Future of Conversational AI

In this talk, I will share our winning experience in the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 3, an international university competition to build a chatbot capable of engaging in 20-minute conversations with anyone on any topic. Through this experience, I will highlight key lessons learned in the realm of human-computer interaction. I will then address the challenges and limitations faced by current deep learning-based chatbots and present a new comprehensive platform to evaluate multi-turn human-to-chatbot conversations in open-domain settings. Finally, I will introduce our integration of cutting-edge large language models with our previous technology to develop a Controllable Conversational AI platform. This platform aims to advance education by assisting college students in enhancing their academic success and career development. Moreover, we are developing a chatbot to provide support for individuals with mental health issues, such as trauma, by offering a service that helps them recognize traumatic events and diagnose related conditions. The talk will underscore the significance of Controllable AI and outline our future directions in this field.