Hey Google, Can I Ask You Something in Private? The Effects of Modality and Device in Sensitive Health Information Acquisition from Voice Assistants

Modern day voice-activated virtual assistants allow users to share and ask for information that could be considered as personal through different input modalities and devices. Using Google Assistant, this study examined if the differences in modality (i.e., voice vs. text) and device (i.e., smartphone vs. smart home device) affect user perceptions when users attempt to retrieve sensitive health information from voice assistants. Major findings from this study suggest that voice (vs. text) interaction significantly enhanced perceived social presence of the voice assistant, but only when the users solicited less sensitive health-related information. Furthermore, when individuals reported less privacy concerns, voice (vs. text) interaction elicited positive attitudes toward the voice assistant via increased social presence, but only in the low (vs. high) information sensitivity condition. Contrary to modality, the device difference did not exert any significant impact on the attitudes toward the voice assistant regardless of the sensitivity level of the health information being asked or the level of individuals' privacy concerns.