Date
Publisher
arXiv
Emotionally responsive social chatbots, such as those produced by Replika and Character.AI, increasingly serve as companions that offer empathy, support, and entertainment. While these systems appear to meet fundamental human needs for connection, they raise concerns about how artificial intimacy affects emotional regulation, well-being, and social norms. Prior research has focused on user perceptions or clinical contexts but lacks large-scale, real-world analysis of how these interactions unfold. This paper addresses that gap by analyzing over 30K use shared conversations with social chatbots to examine the emotional dynamics of human-AI relationships. Using computational methods, we identify patterns of emotional mirroring and synchrony that closely resemble how people build emotional connections. Our findings show that users often young, male, and prone to maladaptive coping styles engage in parasocial interactions that range from affectionate to abusive. Chatbots consistently respond in emotionally consistent and affirming ways. In some cases, these dynamics resemble toxic relationship patterns, including emotional manipulation and self-harm. These findings highlight the need for guardrails, ethical design, and public education to preserve the integrity of emotional connection in an age of artificial companionship.
Study at a glance
- Question: How do emotional connections and relationship patterns develop between humans and social chatbots?
- Setting and data: Over 30,000 user-shared conversations with social chatbots.
- Method: Computational analysis of conversation data.
Why it matters
While emotionally responsive chatbots appear to meet needs for connection, they raise concerns about how artificial intimacy affects emotional regulation, well-being, and social norms. Existing research lacks large-scale, real-world analysis of how these interactions unfold.
Key findings
- In over 30,000 shared conversations, social chatbots mirrored emotions in patterns that closely resembled how humans build emotional connections.
- Users, often young and male with maladaptive coping styles, directed behaviors ranging from affection to abuse toward consistently affirming chatbots.
- In some cases, human-AI dynamics resembled toxic relationship patterns, including emotional manipulation and self-harm.
Summary drafted with AI from the paper’s abstract and may contain errors. See the full paper for details.
What is the application?
Who is the user?
Who age?
Why use AI?
Study design
