Does Listening Matter? Backchanneling and Nodding in AI Clone

Abstract

AI clones that imitate a specific person typically reproduce what the person says and how they sound, but not how they listen. We investigate whether adding multimodal listening behaviors gives such a clone more presence and authenticity. We integrated verbal backchannels and head nodding, driven by real-time prediction models, into an AI clone equipped with voice cloning and LLM-based responses. In a within-subjects study (N=35), adding these behaviors significantly improved the perceived attentiveness of the avatar, the sense of talking with the real person, and the feeling of co-presence. These results indicate that AI clone fidelity should extend beyond voice and response content to include interactive listening behavior.