Emotional tradeoffs of using conversational AI to alleviate loneliness

Determine whether the use of conversational artificial intelligence to alleviate loneliness or regulate short-term negative emotions leads to unintended long-term consequences such as social avoidance or perpetuated loneliness.

Background

The paper synthesizes mixed emotional outcomes of affective and conversational AI, noting benefits (e.g., reduced negative affect) alongside risks (e.g., dependence, manipulation).

In the conclusion, the authors explicitly highlight uncertainty about tradeoffs when conversational AI is used to cope with loneliness and pose a direct question about potential long-term harms.