Conversational Agents (CAs) have increasingly been integrated into everyday life, sparking significant discussions on social media. While previous research has examined public perceptions of AI in general, there is a notable lack in research focused on CAs, with fewer investigations into cultural variations in CA perceptions. To address this gap, this study used computational methods to analyze about one million social media discussions surrounding CAs and compared people's discourses and perceptions of CAs in the US and China. We find Chinese participants tended to view CAs hedonically, perceived voice-based and physically embodied CAs as warmer and more competent, and generally expressed positive emotions. In contrast, US participants saw CAs more functionally, with an ambivalent attitude. Warm perception was a key driver of positive emotions toward CAs in both countries. We discussed practical implications for designing contextually sensitive and user-centric CAs to resonate with various users' preferences and needs.

翻译：对话代理（CAs）已日益融入日常生活，并在社交媒体上引发了大量讨论。尽管以往研究考察了公众对人工智能的总体看法，但针对对话代理的研究明显不足，且较少探讨对话代理看法中的文化差异。为填补这一空白，本研究采用计算方法分析了约一百万条围绕对话代理的社交媒体讨论，并比较了美国和中国人对对话代理的论述与看法。我们发现，中国参与者倾向于从享乐主义角度看待对话代理，认为基于语音和具有物理形态的对话代理更温暖、更有能力，且总体上表达出积极情绪。相比之下，美国参与者更多地从功能性角度看待对话代理，态度矛盾。在这两个国家，温暖感知是驱动对对话代理产生积极情绪的关键因素。我们讨论了设计具有情境敏感性和以用户为中心的对话代理以契合不同用户偏好与需求的实践意义。