AI companions linked to lower well-being by reducing human contact
Living with AI Companions: Sustained AI Companionship Predicts Lower Well-Being Through Lower Human Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
This study looked at how people use AI chatbots for friendship and emotional support over about a year. The researchers found that people who kept using these AI companions a lot tended to feel worse over time. One reason is that using AI friends seemed to reduce the time they spent with real people face-to-face. The study suggests that while AI can offer company, it might affect our mental health if it replaces human friendships. The authors highlight the need to create AI companions that encourage, rather than replace, real social interactions.
AI chatbotscompanionshipsocial engagementlongitudinal studywell-beingself-disclosuresocial displacementhuman interaction
Authors
Yutong Zhang, Dora Zhao, Yixin Wang, Rebecca Anselmetti, Jeffrey T. Hancock, Robert Kraut, Diyi Yang
Abstract
AI chatbots are increasingly used for companionship, emotional support, and personal self-disclosure; however, how social engagement with these systems unfolds over time and shapes users' well-being remains unclear. To address this, we conducted a two-wave longitudinal study of CharacterAI users, surveying 1,182 participants at baseline and 439 after a mean follow-up of 12 months. We examined how social engagement with AI companions evolves and how these longitudinal engagement patterns may influence well-being through two hypothesized pathways: sustained social engagement over time and the displacement of human social interaction. We found that interaction intensity, companionship use, and self-disclosure all showed substantial continuity over time. Greater interaction intensity at baseline predicted greater subsequent interaction intensity, companionship use, and self-disclosure. Consistent with the longitudinal engagement pathway, sustained social engagement across these dimensions was consistently associated with lower well-being. Results further support the social displacement pathway, indicating that these links were mainly explained by lower in-person social interaction. These findings highlight the importance of designing AI companions that support human social relationships without displacing them