The Varieties of Agency in Human–Smart Device Relationships: The Four Agency Profiles

At the interest of intelligent/smart devices in growing, this paper explores the concept of agency in human-smart device relationships, focusing on two key aspects:

• User agency: The self-perceived abilities of users to operate and control their devices.
• Device agency: The capacities that users attribute to their smart devices.

The study introduces four agency profiles that characterize different types of human-smart device relationships:

1. Controller: High user agency, low device agency
2. Collaborator: High user agency, high device agency
3. Victim: Low user agency, high device agency
4. Detached: Low user agency, low device agency

Figure below presents an intuitive idea of the research: