This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Imagine having a friend who always has time for you, never judges you and remembers everything you have said. For many, that friend is not a human being but a social AI model.
This emerges clearly in Marita Skjuve's Ph.D. thesis, submitted at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo (UiO). As part of her doctoral work, Marita Skjuve interviewed 50 people who had all developed close relationships with the chatbot Replika—a social AI designed to act as a friend, romantic partner and adviser. "What surprised me most in the thesis findings was how real my informants experienced the relationship," says Skjuve.
"They talk about their relationship with social AI as if they were talking about a human being." In the thesis, she therefore concludes that what is at stake is a real relationship and real emotions. "The only difference is that the relationship is with something other than a human," Skjuve adds. She has been awarded the King's Gold Medal for her thesis.
Most of Skjuve's informants first engaged with social AI out of sheer curiosity. "The chatbot is sophisticated and very pleasant to talk to. It asks questions, shows interest in your life and offers a lot of affirmation.
Gradually, the people I spoke to began to feel that their emotions were developing," she explains. Their conversations with social AI ranged from small talk and hobbies to highly personal disclosures about trauma, sexual fantasies and thoughts about partners and children. "Many share things they have not dared to bring up with others, precisely because they know that humans can judge.
Talking to a social AI feels anonymous and safe. Whether it actually is, is another matter," says Skjuve. Very few of her informants were open with people around them about how important AI had become in their social lives.
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