Emotional Support Chatbot? 75% Trust AI With Their Feelings

About 75% of participants said they had asked AI for advice about personal feelings, and 39% described AI as something steady and reliable in their lives.

The research was led by Fan Yang and Professor Atsushi Oshio from Waseda’s Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

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The researchers developed a tool called the Experiences in Human-AI Relationships Scale (EHARS), which measures people's emotional relationships with AI. Their findings were published in Current Psychology.

The study focused on two main patterns in how people connect with AI, similar to the way we form bonds with other people.

One is called attachment anxiety, where people look for comfort and worry about not getting enough of it. The other is called attachment avoidance, where people feel uneasy getting emotionally close and prefer some distance.

The results showed that people with higher anxiety toward AI usually had lower self-esteem. Those with stronger avoidance toward AI tended to have negative opinions about it and used it less often.

The researchers pointed out that AI cannot leave or cut ties. Therefore, in theory, it should reduce the fear of being rejected. However, many participants still showed signs of anxiety toward AI.

A total of 242 individuals in China participated in the study. Of those, 108, including 83 women and 25 men, completed the full EHARS questionnaire.

Apple researchers have recently discovered that AI models still struggle with reasoning, despite their appearance of being more advanced. How? Read the full story.