Omotenashi: A study about the cultural adaptation of an intelligent agent on Blip

The development and use of intelligent agents are currently growing vertiginously. This growth has raised awareness of big technology companies that launched platforms that ease chatbot development. However, chatbots still fail to meet users' social expectations associated with cultural values imbued during the chatbot development (concerned or not with anthropomorphic topics). In literature, nowadays, there is a lack of research on culture in chatbot building platforms, primarily focusing on non-programmers. This research investigates interactive resources for cultural adaptation on the Blip Builder platform based on Semiotic Engineering. We evaluate the Blip communicability using the Semiotic Inspection Method combined with the Cultural Viewpoint Metaphors, followed by an autoethnography step in the design process of a conversational agent based on Omotenashi, a Japanese cultural characteristic. The main results indicate that the platform offers opportunities that enable cultural adaptation, mainly improving the adaptation of the chatbot behavior to the Omotenashi properties. But also convey some barriers for cultural expression.