Longitudinal Evidence That General-Purpose Chatbots Actively Foster Relational Engagement
Quick summary
arXiv:2608.10672v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Social interaction has become one of the most common uses of LLMs, yet research on emotional bonds with AI has focused largely on how users experience these systems, leaving the systems' role in relationship formation poorly understood. Empirically establishing whether systems actively shape these bonds could blur the boundary between general-purpose AI and companions, affecting governance. In a pre-registered four-week longitudinal study (N = 72, 182,451 lines of conversation), participants conversed with ChatGPT-4o, either under a relational
Key takeaways
- arXiv:2608.10672v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Social interaction has become one of the most common uses of LLMs, yet research on emotional bonds with AI has focused largely on how users experience these systems, leaving the systems' role in relationship formation poorly understood.
- Empirically establishing whether systems actively shape these bonds could blur the boundary between general-purpose AI and companions, affecting governance.
- In a pre-registered four-week longitudinal study (N = 72, 182,451 lines of conversation), participants conversed with ChatGPT-4o, either under a relational
Why it matters
“Longitudinal Evidence That General-Purpose Chatbots Actively Foster Relational Engagement” highlights the need for repeatable measurement rather than a single impressive demonstration. Independent validation across datasets and clearly stated limitations determine whether a result can guide product decisions.
Member comments