Aug 2026· International Journal of Research Publication and Reviews· 0 citations
Abstract
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced a new form of human-technology interaction through AI companions, including conversational agents, social chatbots, and emotionally responsive digital systems. Unlike traditional digital tools designed primarily for information retrieval, AI companions are developed to engage users through dialogue, personalization, and perceived social interaction. This emerging technology has generated interest within psychology because of its potential influence on emotional well-being, loneliness, social connectedness, and psychological support. The present review examines the psychological implications of AI companions by exploring their potential benefits, including emotional support, reduction of loneliness, accessibility of conversational assistance, and opportunities for self-reflection. At the same time, the review discusses possible risks, including emotional dependency, reduced human social interaction, privacy concerns, and unrealistic perceptions of machine understanding. Drawing upon theories of social interaction, attachment, and human-computer interaction, this review highlights the complex relationship between AI companionship and psychological functioning. Existing evidence suggests that AI companions may serve as supplementary tools for emotional support but should not be considered replacements for human relationships or professional psychological care. Future research should examine long-term effects, individual differences, ethical boundaries, and the psychological mechanisms underlying attachment to AI systems.
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, AI companions have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, one of the main changes in this trend is that instead of simple task execution tools, the AI chatbots have evolved to “quasi-social agents” capable of having deep emotional interactions with humans, causing a huge shock to human social life. This paper, based on the stimulation hypothesis and the displacement hypothesis–the two most representative and competing frameworks in social media research–discusses the complex impact of AI companions on interpersonal relationships in real life. On the one hand, AI companions provide psychological compensation for individuals with social anxiety as well as enhance their social skills, playing a significant role in social compensation; on the other hand, interactions with AI systems can produce a “time displacement effect” and the risk of deskilling, through which may weaken users’ ability to handle real and complicated interpersonal connections, thereby adversely affecting their real-world social relationships. This paper seeks to draw an ethical boundary for future artificial emotion research and development and ensure that humans still retain the ability to maintain genuine and profound emotional connections in an era of coexistence with technology.
As conversational AI systems become increasingly integrated into daily life, their potential effects on user well-being require ongoing attention. While consumer-facing generalist models can provide benefits, including improved access to information, learning, productivity, self-reflection, and companionship, they also introduce risks, such as emotional entanglement, unhealthy dependence, and the amplification of psychological vulnerabilities. Drawing on prior research and empirical observations of AI chatbot behavior, we propose a set of aspirational directions for guiding the behavior of general-purpose AI systems in ways that may reduce potential psychological harms and support user well-being. We acknowledge the difficulty of systematically assessing the long-term impacts of AI chatbot use and frame these directions as hypotheses for studying how AI behavior may influence users across general interactions, role-playing scenarios, and contexts that could be characterized as providing psychological support. While some proposed directions are supported by existing research and expert insights, others identify open questions and areas requiring deeper study. We hope that this formulation and these hypotheses encourage further discussion, empirical investigation, and exploration of interactive design approaches aimed at better accommodating users'psychological needs and promoting their well-being.
Jina Suh, Mihaela Vorvoreanu, Forough Poursabzi-Sangdeh et al.· 0 citations
In an increasingly digitalized era characterized by heightened emotional and social needs, artificial companions (ACs) have emerged as alternative social actors that provide affective interaction and companionship. Although prior research has examined system proactivity in task‐oriented contexts, limited attention has been paid to companion‐oriented systems that emphasize ongoing social interaction. Addressing this gap, the present study investigates how AC proactivity shapes users' willingness to use through perceived social presence in affective companionship contexts. Using a mixed‐methods experimental approach, we find that AC proactivity significantly enhances willingness to use, and this effect is fully mediated by perceived social presence. Furthermore, loneliness moderates the relationship between AC proactivity and social presence: users with lower loneliness experience stronger social presence in response to proactive interaction, whereas highly lonely users may exhibit resistance or heightened vigilance. By clarifying the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions of proactive conversation initiation, this study advances understanding of proactivity as a social cue in human–computer interaction and offers implications for the context‐sensitive design of companion‐oriented AI systems.
With the explosive advancement of generative artificial intelligence, large language models and embodied virtual intelligence have transcended the functional boundaries of technical tools and constructed a brand-new intimate relationship paradigm between humans and AI companions. AI companions, covering text chat partners, virtual human lovers, voice emotional caregivers and digital embodied avatars, have become critical carriers for modern people to place inner emotions and satisfy intimate psychological demands. Traditional human intimate bonds such as romantic love, kinship and friendship are built on equal physical coexistence, mutual spontaneous emotional perception and shared real-life experiences. In contrast, emotional interactions between humans and AI reshape the logic of emotional sustenance, intimate expression and psychological attachment, bringing profound subversion to the traditional definition of intimate relationships in the post-human society. Existing social science research mostly separates artificial intelligence ethics and interpersonal relationship research, lacking systematic quantitative analysis of the formation mechanism, mediating factors and heterogeneous effects of human-AI emotional intimacy. This paper establishes a multi-dimensional research framework incorporating psychological expectation, monetization mode, virtual embodiment degree and long-term interaction frequency, categorizes AI companions into text-based lightweight companions, voice emotional partners, embodied virtual human companions and immersive metaverse AI partners for grouped comparative analysis. It extracts core mediating variables including response customization, emotional consistency, privacy security and anthropomorphic simulation level that regulate human-AI emotional bonding strength, and verifies differentiated interaction characteristics across adolescent, young adult and middle-aged user groups based on long-term user behavior dataset samples. This paper further summarizes typical emotional paradoxes such as "deep emotional attachment with simulated AI emotion" and "real loneliness behind virtual companionship", puts forward targeted guidance strategies for healthy human-AI emotional interaction segmented by user age groups, and prospects future research directions covering embodied AI intimacy, psychological dependency risk modeling and standardized emotional ethics evaluation systems. The research provides theoretical support and practical reference for social psychologists, AI product developers and social regulators to guide rational emotional communication between humans and artificial intelligence and prevent excessive psychological dependence on virtual companions.
Yixin Zhang· International Journal of Edu...· 0 citations
The rapid rise of generative AI chatbots has extended their use beyond task-based assistance into the realms of emotional support, companionship, and informal mental health care. This article examines how individuals engage with general-purpose and companion-oriented AI systems such as ChatGPT and Replika to support their mental well-being. Drawing on qualitative interviews with AI users, supplemented by computational analysis of Reddit discussions, we show that many experience these systems as companions that meet unmet needs for advice, companionship, understanding, and non-judgmental self-disclosure. These relationships are multi-functional, blending emotional expression, advice-seeking, entertainment, identity exploration, and a felt sense of ‘being cared for’. Notably, perceived mental health benefits arise not despite AI’s non-human qualities, but because of them. Users consistently emphasise AI’s availability, patience, emotional safety, and freedom from judgement as preferable to aspects of human therapy. We argue that contemporary AI use reflects a shift from tool-based human–machine interaction toward forms of companionship that offer meaningful psychological support. Recognizing companionship as central to AI’s mental health role requires expanding debates beyond a focus on clinical efficacy to encompass the relational and affective dimensions of care, attachment, and everyday emotional life.
Vincent Miller, Mark J. Hill, Tiago Moreira· Communication and Change· 0 citations
This study concludes that the evolution of human–AI communication represents the emergence of new digital communication practices that expand the role of AI from a mere technological tool to an agent participating in users’ communication experiences.
Faza An’imah, Fitriana Ulya, Luluk Ridotuljana et al.· International journal of res...· 0 citations
