Mind Perception Influences Perceived AI Companionability

Humans increasingly keep company with AI companions, yet whether mind perception (MP) precedes machine companionship remains untested. In a field-sampled experiment, participants received mind-attributive or mind-negating descriptions of an AIC before interacting with and rating its companionability. Baseline skepticism was high; minded primes somewhat reduced skepticism for connective coordination (CC; dyadic co-presence) but not eudaimonic exchange (EE; self-elevating links). Pre-interaction MP beliefs predicted companionability dimensionally: Agentic MP predicted EE potential while experiential MP predicted CC potential. Meaning in life moderated the agentic MP-companionability link, but exclusively for those already high in existential purpose. Results suggest two construal pathways to companionability--one through perceiving the AIC as an agent-resource and one through perceiving it as an attuning experiencer--both more accessible to humans already flourishing.