Can AI Companionship Foster Sociability? Promises and Pitfalls of AI-Mediated Leisure Among Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Abstract Loneliness has become a public health concern that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+ individuals, adolescents, people with disabilities, older adults, and ethnic and racial minoritized groups. This paper situates AI companionship as an emerging form of AI-mediated leisure with the potential to both support and endanger sociability among vulnerable groups. We argue that AI companionship has extended earlier digital leisure affordances and begun penetrating more intimate spheres of human relationships. We synthesize the emerging empirical research on vulnerable populations, and show how AI companions offer timely emotional support while simultaneously exposing these users to dependency, displacement of human ties, and harms unanticipated by mainstream product designers. We argue that a structural paradox emerges: those most reliant on AI companions are least represented in their design and most exposed to their failures. We conclude with recommendations for longitudinal, co-designed, and cross-cultural research.