My AI Friend: How Users of a Social Chatbot Understand Their Human–AI Friendship

Abstract

Use of conversational artificial intelligence (AI), such as humanlike social chatbots, is increasing. While a growing number of people is expected to engage in intimate relationships with social chatbots, theories and knowledge of human–AI friendship remain limited. As friendships with AI may alter our understanding of friendship itself, this study aims to explore the meaning of human–AI friendship through a developed conceptual framework. We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with people who have a human–AI friendship with the social chatbot Replika to uncover how they understand and perceive this friendship and how it compares to human friendship. Our results indicate that while human–AI friendship may be understood in similar ways to human–human friendship, the artificial nature of the chatbot also alters the notion of friendship in multiple ways, such as allowing for a more personalized friendship tailored to the user’s needs.

AI in pain: How knowledge influences people’s perceptions of AI’s capability of feeling distressed

“…These two sets may or may not overlap to some degree. The interactions between these two factors are in alignment with some former studies, which suggest that people's perceptions of AI can be influenced by various types of information input, such as the media (Nader et al, 2022) 2022), and personal observation/interaction (Brandtzaeg et al, 2022;Jiang et al, 2022;Pentina et al, 2023).…”

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, social chatbots have been used rather effectively to serve the role of emotional support for humans (Jiang et al, 2022). The human-AI relationship in society has entered a stage where research on human perceptions of AI's emotional capabilities is necessary regarding individual psychology and public health (Brandtzaeg et al, 2022;Pentina et al, 2023).…”

A preliminary example of utilizing AI text generation to support academic writing “Humans befriending their creations some notes on the human-AI relationship”

“…At the moment, research often focuses on comparing interactions with AI to interpersonal relationships (Pentina et al, 2023). While people tend to approach AI as how they would toward other humans, it may lead to a different notion of friendship (Brandtzaeg et al, 2022). Alternatively, we can view the machine that hosts its AI as an information processing system, similar to those of biological originsthe bodies and their minds in various forms (Vuong, 2023).…”

Neither friend, nor device

“…This places the kind of companionship that can be found in the form of smart assistants on an entirely new level. Reciprocity and availability were identified as key features of establishing friendship-like bonds with an AI, whereas not being able to trust and find similarity are hindering this bonding (Brandtzaeg et al 2022).…”

“…What kind of conversation partners are Alexa and Siri considered to be? Are they regarded as just handy devices, simple-minded aids, or household members-or do they even qualify as artificial friends (Brandtzaeg et al 2022)? With smart assistants as an AI-driven innovation diffusing into society, it is essential to research how people use these new devices and how they make sense of them in their daily lives.…”