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The use of chatbots for various forms of companionship is growing rapidly, raising a myriad of questions about simulated relationships, emotional dependence, and psychological harm. While major platforms such as ChatGPT, Grok, and…
Development in digital technologies has continuously reshaped how individuals seek and receive social and emotional support. While online platforms and communities have long served this need, the increased integration of general-purpose…
The quickly growing popularity of AI companions poses risks to mental health, personal wellbeing, and social relationships. Past work has identified many individual factors that can drive human-companion interaction, but we know little…
Human-AI romantic relationships have gained wide popularity among social media users in China. The technological impact on romantic relationships and its potential applications have long drawn research attention to topics such as…
Romantic AI chatbots have quickly attracted users, but their emotional use raises concerns about privacy and safety. As people turn to these systems for intimacy, comfort, and emotionally significant interaction, they often disclose highly…
Individuals are turning to increasingly anthropomorphic, general-purpose chatbots for AI companionship, rather than roleplay-specific platforms. However, not much is known about how individuals perceive and conduct their relationships with…
Artificial intelligence (AI) companions are increasingly promoted as solutions for loneliness, often overlooking how personal dispositions and life-stage conditions shape artificial intimacy. Because intimacy is a primary coping mechanism…
Background: Conversational AI chatbots are emerging as scalable mental health tools, but little is known about real world engagement or its relationship to clinical outcomes. Objective: To characterize engagement phenotypes among users of…
AI-companion apps such as Replika, Chai, and Character.ai promise relational benefits-yet many boast session lengths that rival gaming platforms while suffering high long-run churn. What conversational design features increase consumer…
Reduced social connectedness increasingly poses a threat to mental health, life expectancy, and general well-being. Generative AI (GAI) technologies, such as large language models (LLMs) and image generation tools, are increasingly…
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is diffusing rapidly, yet its adoption is strikingly unequal. Using nationally representative UK survey data from 2023 to 2024, we show that women adopt GenAI substantially less often than men…
Conversational AI companions have grown prominent in public discourse, yet scholarly understanding of user experiences remains limited, with existing research organized around evaluative poles of harm and benefit rather than examining what…
Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) chatbots built for mental health could deliver safe, personalized, and scalable mental health support. We evaluate a foundation model designed for mental health. Adults completed mental health…
The emergence of AI companion applications has created novel forms of intimate human-AI relationships, yet empirical research on these communities remains limited. We present the first large-scale computational analysis of…
AI companions are increasingly popular among teenagers, yet current platforms lack safeguards to address developmental risks and harmful normalization. Despite growing concerns, little is known about how parents and developmental psychology…
The widespread adoption of conversational AI platforms has introduced new security and privacy risks. While these risks and their mitigation strategies have been extensively researched from a technical perspective, users' perceptions of…
While computer systems that allow users to interact through conversational natural language (i.e., chatbots) have existed for many years, varying types of applications advertising AI companionship (e.g., Character AI, Replika) have…
As large language model (LLM)-enhanced chatbots become increasingly expressive and socially responsive, many users begin forming companionship-like bonds with them. This study investigates how using AI companions relates to psychological…
AI companion chatbots are increasingly used for emotional support, with prior work in the domain predominantly documenting their mixed psychosocial impacts, including both increased emotional expression and heightened loneliness. However,…
Stack Exchange, a question-and-answer(Q&A) platform, has exhibited signs of a declining user engagement. This paper investigates user engagement dynamics across various Stack Exchange communities including Data science, AI, software…