Chatbots are changing the nature of what we think of as communication. Sociology, as well as cognate social science disciplines, need to move beyond their anthropocentrism and recognise that conversational AI applications such as chatbots can join humans in that most challenging of endeavours, communication. For this research project Benjamin Marent and Sebastian Merkel speak to chatbot developers to understand how chatbots are being used in mental health to provide clients with talk therapy. They investigate the sociotechnical imaginaries, design assumptions and challenges that guide the creation of these chatbots.
Based on study participants’ experiences and observations of therapeutic encounters with chatbots, the project develops Niklas Luhmann's thesis that computer technology (such as chatbots) becomes a functional equivalent of (human) consciousness and can participate in communication. Building on sociological systems theory, Marent and Merkel aim to further develop a framework for the kind of “artificial communication” (Elena Esposito) that occurs between humans and conversational AI applications such as chatbots. A framework of artificial communication, they argue, is essential to understanding machine (i.e. chatbot) behaviour, reaping its benefits and minimising its harms.
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© Felice Drott
Assoc. Prof. Benjamin Marent
University of Sussex (UK) | Digital Technology at Work
Benjamin Marent is Associate Professor in Digital Technology at Work at the University of Sussex Business School, UK. His research investigates and informs the digital transformation of health care, with a current focus on telemedicine and the application of conversational artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies are surrounded by promising expectations to ensure the sustainability of care for the growing number of people with chronic conditions. As health sociologist, Benjamin Marent asks if and how “care” happens when communicative encounters between health professionals and their clients are mediated by technology (as in the case of telemedicine) or when the communicative other is no longer a human professional but an artificial agent (as in the case of conversational AI).
Alongside this research, Benjamin Marent has co-edited the Sociology of Health & Illness special issue ‘Digital Health: Sociological Perspectives’ (2019) and is currently editing the De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Health and Society (forthcoming 2025) and the Sociology of Health & Illness special issue ‘Algorithms in Health and Medicine: Sociological Inquiries into Current Disruptions and Future Imaginaries’ (eds. Marent, Henwood, Petersen, Neves, forthcoming 2026). He serves on the editorial boards of the British Sociological Association's flagship journal Sociology and Sociology of Health & Illness, and he is an Associate Fellow of the Digital Future at Work Research Centre (‘Digit’).
Website
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© Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Sebastian Merkel
Ruhr-University Bochum | Social Sciences - Health and E-Health
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© Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Prof. Sebastian Merkel
Ruhr-University Bochum | Social Sciences - Health and E-Health
Sebastian Merkel is a junior professor of ‘Health and E-Health’ at Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Social Sciences. Previously, he worked at the Institute for Work and Technology (IAT) for ten years, where he has led the research department ‘Health Industries and Quality of Life’ for two years. Sebastian Merkel has been involved in several national and international research projects studying social implications of (digital) technologies in the field of health and care. His research activities follow an interdisciplinary approach, combining theories and methods from medical sociology, science and technology studies, health economics, and public health. A central theme of his research is participatory approaches to technology development.
Website
https://www.sowi.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ehealth/team/merkel.html.en