The Rise of AI Companions: Interaction with AI Companions and Psychological Well-being
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866909012856930304 |
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| author | Zhang, Yutong Zhao, Dora Hancock, Jeffrey T. Kraut, Robert Yang, Diyi |
| author_facet | Zhang, Yutong Zhao, Dora Hancock, Jeffrey T. Kraut, Robert Yang, Diyi |
| contents | 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 well-being. We collected self-reported data from 1,131 U.S. adults who use CharacterAI, including survey responses and 4,664 chat sessions (464,687 messages) from 237 participants. By triangulating self-reported usage, relationship descriptions, and real chat histories, we identify patterns of engagement and associated outcomes. Smaller social networks were associated with reporting companionship as the primary chatbot use (beta = -0.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-0.05, -0.01]), which in turn was associated with lower well-being (beta = -0.48, 95% CI [-0.70, -0.25]). For self-reported companionship usage, this association was stronger when interactions were intensive (beta = -0.31, 95% CI [-0.56, -0.06]) and highly disclosive (beta = -0.38, 95% CI [-0.63, -0.14]). These results suggest that the association between AI companionship and well-being is not uniform and depends on how chatbots are used and users' offline social environments. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_12605 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Rise of AI Companions: Interaction with AI Companions and Psychological Well-being Zhang, Yutong Zhao, Dora Hancock, Jeffrey T. Kraut, Robert Yang, Diyi Human-Computer Interaction 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 well-being. We collected self-reported data from 1,131 U.S. adults who use CharacterAI, including survey responses and 4,664 chat sessions (464,687 messages) from 237 participants. By triangulating self-reported usage, relationship descriptions, and real chat histories, we identify patterns of engagement and associated outcomes. Smaller social networks were associated with reporting companionship as the primary chatbot use (beta = -0.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-0.05, -0.01]), which in turn was associated with lower well-being (beta = -0.48, 95% CI [-0.70, -0.25]). For self-reported companionship usage, this association was stronger when interactions were intensive (beta = -0.31, 95% CI [-0.56, -0.06]) and highly disclosive (beta = -0.38, 95% CI [-0.63, -0.14]). These results suggest that the association between AI companionship and well-being is not uniform and depends on how chatbots are used and users' offline social environments. |
| title | The Rise of AI Companions: Interaction with AI Companions and Psychological Well-being |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12605 |