Results

Expected Findings

During the preparation of this research proposal I conducted a preliminary round of facetoface interviews using 21 openended probing questions using a convenience sampling of NCKU students on campus between ages 19 and 29 a total of 12 respondents The interviews lasted between 9 and 21 minutes and were conducted to get some initial feedback on my research idea the respondents daily routines app usage feelings towards financial questions including investing relationship with nature and environmental sustainability These preliminary conversations led me to emphasize more on the financial journey ie to consider the importance of the shopping savings and payments apps students already use daily which could serve as an entry point to becoming an investor I expect my future research findings to confirm this initial idea and offer diverse ways and examples of what that path could look like in practice

Survey Overview

A survey of Taiwanese college students excludes overseas Chinesespeaking students as well as foreign students covering attitudes towards shopping saving investing economy nature sustainability and AI

Survey Oct 13th Nov 3rd 2023

2000 cards with a QR code printed out

Distribution conducted at 8 universities handing out the cards

1289 people started the survey 518 quit

771 people completed the whole survey

Data after filtering 675 people aged 18-26 GenZ Taiwanese current students in BA large majority MA small minority or PhD level very few respondents

36 likert fields 5point scale used for clustering the students into 3 personas with Kmeans clustering

14 product features multiplechoice used for Kmodes clustering

4 choice experiments

2 option ranking questions

10 text fields used to enrich the personas

Data Analysis

KMeans clustering for survey data Kmeans clustering is similar to vector distances for similarity used in largelanguage models LLMs word embeddings and deep learning

Findings

Literature AI assistants should integrate with Digital Product Passports Literature AI assistants should show carbon label data Literature AI assistants should avoid taking ESG at face value because its a really low bar and integrate other metrics such as B Corp Literature AI assistants should Literature Do not make another investing app make a sustainability filter for excising investing platforms Literature College students can support extended producer responsibility

How might AI assistants empower regenerative shopping saving and investing

Display the ESG EPR BCorp etc etc credentials for each product and investment EPR and BCorp are success stories which should be highlighted while ESG is largely discredited There are many existing and ongoing approaches to sustainability The best approach might be to plug into excising system and communities and legislation to support and empower them

How might one design an intuitive sustainable shopping saving investing app

Apple Watch app

What app features might college students rate as the highest priority

Autopilot

How might one visualize ecological impact in digital product design

Accuracy is more important for human trust than actual impact

95,9% used a mobile device, 75,5% using an iOS device iPhone, 20,8% using an Android device design implication should design mobile app but apple is so restrictive

RQ 1

the AI companion is informed by the latest scientific insights and can provide accurate evidencebased recommendations The AI is designed to offer personalized guidance by analyzing complex environmental data and translating it into userfriendly information helping students make more sustainable choices in their daily lives It explores various AI interaction designs including chatbots voice assistants and virtual avatars to find the most engaging and supportive formats for college students address the attitudebehavior gap among college students by providing tools that make sustainable financial actions more convenient and impactful

RQ 2

provide realtime information about the sustainability of products and companie AI companion includes features for identifying and investing in sustainable companies This involves providing data on companies environmental social and governance ESG practices and facilitating investments in green bonds and sustainable funds shoppingasinvesting where the AI links the act of purchasing sustainable products with investing in companies that produce these products effectively merging consumer and investor roles

RQ 3 todo