BACKGROUND

  The First International Conference on Metaverse and Artificial Companions in Education and Society (MetaACES2023) was held in Hong Kong in this June https://www.eduhk.hk/metaaces2023/ MataACES is one of the APSCE Theme-Based International Conference Series. The organizing team of MetaACES is currently working on the following activities for a year from now:

  1. In 22 November 2023, we have an Online Forum on: “The role of Generative AI in building humane Artificial Learning Companions (ALCs)”.

  2. We are calling for papers for a special issue of RPTEL on “Revolutionizing learning: The continuing roles of learning companions beyond ChatGPT”https://rptel.apsce.net/index.php/RPTEL/cfpsi

  3. Next June, we organize the MetaACES2024, http://140.115.126.44/index.html which will be held in at National Central University.

OBJECTIVES

  1. To familiarize more researchers with past research on artificial companions, allowing newcomers to learn from and reference previous work.

  2. To highlight an important research avenue: transitioning from using Generative AI merely as a tool to building a more humane artificial companion. This companion would be tailored to the human student, foster mixed initiative, deeply understand its users, among other qualities.

  3. To suggest possible future research in leveraging Generative AI to build artificial learning companions, including impacts of AI in education.

  Note that the term 'companion' is a board name, akin to the increasing number of researchers exploring robotic companions in many domains, besides education. In education, an artificial companion can assume various roles: a tutor, a peer student, a student, or even a representative for the student's human teacher, parent, fellow classmate, and so on. It's important to mention that it's termed a 'companion' due to the sense of 'companionship'. This companionship is defined by the 'interactions' between the companion and the student. However, the nature of these interactions is determined by the role the companion assumes, as previously mentioned.