Acceptance of AI-Infused assistive technologies for vulnerable user groups by professionals in social services – Insights from human-robot interaction research. A scoping review

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Abstract
Background: Assistive technologies (ATs) that use functions based on artificial intelligence (AI) are set to become more relevant in the coming years. While research highlights the important role of professionals in social services in successfully implementing ATs, it remains unclear which factors are relevant in the context of AI-infused ATs. Objective: With this scoping review, we aimed to discover which aspects influence the acceptance of professionals working in social services towards AI-infused ATs. Design: Online databases were used to identify papers published 2019–2024, from which we selected six studies examining the viewpoints of professionals in education, (health)care, and therapy. Thematic analysis of the selected studies was executed and principal findings are summarized. Results: All six studies did research on socially assistive/care robotics. 3 out of 6 studies utilized technology acceptance models in their research. The thematic analysis identified five categories as external predictors and four as contextual factors. Two studies reported results based on factors from other theories. Conclusion: This review reveals the scarcity of research on the acceptance of professionals in social services towards AI-infused assistive technologies, with results drawing exclusively from human-robot-interaction research. We propose that more research is needed to determine what factors are relevant for the acceptance of AI-infused assistive technologies by professionals in social services.

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