The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and robotics has opened up new possibilities for the creation of human-like robots and social virtual agents. As these lifelike robots continue to be developed, it becomes crucial to investigate the potential impact of stereotypes on the interactions between humans and robots. This study aims to explore two main objectives: to find out if a virtual agent's appearance and ethnic representation influence interaction and to explore patterns of adoption of social agents. In the first study, 32 participants interacted with a virtual agent using a videoconferencing platform. The participant was assigned one out of two virtual agent conditions, one with a typical Swedish face and accent and another with a typical Kenyan face and accent. The results showed that the Kenyan agent was rated as having higher English proficiency than the Swedish agent. On the other hand, the Swedish agent was perceived as more authentic than its Kenyan counterpart. In the second study, a short questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 100 participants to investigate their utilization and frequency of engagement with social agents. The results show that adoption of social agents for work or study have entered the “Late Majority” stage. Furthermore, an inverse relationship between age and the adoption of social agents was identified. ; Framsteg inom artificiell intelligens och robotik har öppnat upp nya möjligheter för skapandet av människoliknande robotar och sociala virtuella agenter. När dessa verklighetstrogna robotar fortsätter att utvecklas blir det väsentligt att undersöka potentiell påverkan av stereotyper på interaktionen mellan människor och robotar. Denna studie syftar till att utforska två huvudsakliga mål: att ta reda på om en virtuell agents utseende och etniska representation påverkar interaktionen och att undersöka användningsmönster för sociala agenter. I den första studien interagerade 32 deltagare med en virtuell agent genom ett videosamtal. Deltagaren fick interagera med ...