So far, human-machine encounters have primarily been tested and monitored in controlled laboratory settings. However, the first robots that are used in care, service and education are already being sold commercially. The contributors grapple with methodological challenges in investigating communicative AI systems in (inter-)action. They investigate how these studies can be composed and what kinds of insights such research can provide. With this, the anthology brings together contributions from a growing community of researchers who are committed to exploring communicative AI »in (inter-)action« by using and adapting qualitative (and mostly ethnographic) methods.

Florian Muhle (Edited by) Florian Muhle works as a professor for communication studies with a focus on digital communication at Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen, Germany. He is also affiliated at the Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) Lab at the Australian National University in Canberra. One of the focal points of his research lies in the theoretical and empirical examination of various forms of automated communication.Indra Bock (Edited by) Indra Bock is a Ph.D. student at Bielefeld Graduate School in history and sociology and a research fellow at Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen in the 3B Bots Building Bridges project. Her background lies in qualitative social research and media sociology. Her work surrounds human-robot interaction as well as automated communication in Online Social Networks and its influence on political opinion formation.