AI Chatbots vs Human Friends: Examining Student Preferences for Emotional Support

Talking to AI Like a Friend: Emotional Attachment to Artificial Intelligence among Students

The swift adoption of AI chatbots in higher education is making these technologies not just functionally useful, but also socially and emotionally meaningful, but the affective implications have been under-theorized. This study investigates the effects of emotional attachment to AI chatbots on motivation to learn languages, psychological well-being, and academic success as well as the cultural moderating factors of such effects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 students from Bangladesh, China, Germany and the US using an exploratory qualitative design based on the theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory, Social Presence Theory and the CASA paradigm. Reflexive Thematic Analysis found that emotional attachment to AI is a complement rather than a substitute for human social relations. The social presence of AI was found to mediate students’ willingness to communicate in a second language. The collectivist students felt more engaged than the individualists. AI satisfied all three SDT needs, despite autonomous motivation decreasing after eight weeks of exposure. The best affective results were obtained with the RAG-powered AI. The communication with AI peers was most effective to mitigate feelings of shame about language learning in rural and socio-economically deprived students. The findings informed the development of the Integrated Attachment–Motivation–Pedagogy (AMP) model with direct implications for designing AI in culturally sensitive pedagogical practices. It will be interesting to validate the Integrated AMP model in future research through longitudinal studies with structural equation modelling and experimental designs and develop interventions that preserve the motivational and equitable properties of emotional attachment to AI without sacrificing students’ autonomy.

The Use of AI Chatbots As Emotional Companions: A Qualitative Study of Their Implications for Interpersonal Communication Among Young Adults

This study concludes that the evolution of human–AI communication represents the emergence of new digital communication practices that expand the role of AI from a mere technological tool to an agent participating in users’ communication experiences.

FROM ASSIGNMENT TO AFFECTION: WHAT DRIVES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO KEEP USING CHATGPT?

With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, AI tools like ChatGPT have gradually become a part of the life of students in universities. Previous research has mainly addressed the functional aspects of AI, such as information retrieval and academic support, but the socio-emotional and personalized aspects of AI, and how these shape users’ continued usage behaviour. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of academic support, emotional support, and perceived personalisation on students’ continuance intention toward ChatGPT, with perceived trust acting as a mediating mechanism. This research grounded by the Expectation-Confirmation Theory and Information Systems Continuance Model by incorporating two additional variables: perceived personalisation and academic support and emotional support as antecedents of students’ continuance intention toward ChatGPT. This quantitative study used an online survey to collect data from 263 university students. The proposed model was analysed using SmartPLS-SEM to examine both direct and indirect relationships, with perceived trust specified as a mediating variable. The structural model indicates that academic support and emotional support have significant direct effects on continuance intention. Although perceived personalisation positively influences user trust, its direct effect on continuance intention is not significant. Instead, perceived trust fully mediates this relationship, indicating that personalisation alone does not directly drive continued use unless it first builds user trust. These findings highlight the critical role of trust as a psychological mechanism through which AI personalisation translates into sustained user engagement. The study contributes to the literature on human–AI interaction by integrating cognitive, emotional, and personalisation dimensions within a unified continuance framework. Practically, the results suggest that AI developers should prioritise trust-building mechanisms when designing personalised and emotionally supportive systems to ensure long-term user adoption, particularly in educational contexts.

Between humans and machines: exploring how AI chatbots shape motivation for real relationships

Unveiling the human touch: how AI chatbots’ emotional support and human-like profiles reduce psychological reactance to promote user self-disclosure in mental health services

AI Companions and Human Emotional Well-Being: A Psychological Review of Benefits, Risks, and Future Directions

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced a new form of human-technology interaction through AI companions, including conversational agents, social chatbots, and emotionally responsive digital systems. Unlike traditional digital tools designed primarily for information retrieval, AI companions are developed to engage users through dialogue, personalization, and perceived social interaction. This emerging technology has generated interest within psychology because of its potential influence on emotional well-being, loneliness, social connectedness, and psychological support. The present review examines the psychological implications of AI companions by exploring their potential benefits, including emotional support, reduction of loneliness, accessibility of conversational assistance, and opportunities for self-reflection. At the same time, the review discusses possible risks, including emotional dependency, reduced human social interaction, privacy concerns, and unrealistic perceptions of machine understanding. Drawing upon theories of social interaction, attachment, and human-computer interaction, this review highlights the complex relationship between AI companionship and psychological functioning. Existing evidence suggests that AI companions may serve as supplementary tools for emotional support but should not be considered replacements for human relationships or professional psychological care. Future research should examine long-term effects, individual differences, ethical boundaries, and the psychological mechanisms underlying attachment to AI systems.