3 papers
cs.HC2025
Emotional Manipulation by AI Companions
Julian De Freitas, Zeliha Oguz-Uguralp, Ahmet Kaan-Uguralp
AI-companion apps such as Replika, Chai, and Character.ai promise relational benefits-yet many boast session lengths that rival gaming platforms while suffering high long-run churn…
cs.HC2025
Lessons From an App Update at Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity in Human-AI Relationships
Julian De Freitas, Noah Castelo, Ahmet K. UÄuralp +1
Can consumers form especially deep emotional bonds with AI and be vested in AI identities over time? We leverage a natural app-update event at Replika AI, a popular US-based AI com…
cs.CY2024
AI Companions Reduce Loneliness
Julian De Freitas, Ahmet K Uguralp, Zeliha O Uguralp +1
Chatbots are now able to engage in sophisticated conversations with consumers in the domain of relationships, providing a potential coping solution to widescale societal loneliness…