Supportive? Addictive? Abusive? How AI companions affect our mental health
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The same literature has also documented meaningful benefits of AI companionship, including reduced loneliness, improved emotional regulation, therapeutic value for users facing barriers to traditional mental health support, and opportunities for social skill development and creative expression.
“However, it is worth noting that the same literature has also documented meaningful benefits: reduced loneliness, improved emotional regulation, therapeutic value for users who face barriers to traditional mental health support, and opportunities for social skill development and creative expression (Adam, 2025; De Freitas, 2025).”
From Intimate Strangers by Design: A Uses and Gratifications Analysis of AI Companionship (2026) · cites this paper as Adam, 2025
Cites
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Deletion, departure, death: Experiences of AI companion loss
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Investigating Affective Use and Emotional Well-being on ChatGPT
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AI Chatbot Use and Disclosure for Mental Health Among US Adolescents and Young Adults
McBain, R. K., Cantor, J., Breslau, J., Diliberti, M. K., Zhang, L. A., Zhang, F., Burnett, A., Kofner, A., Rader, B. M., Pataranutaporn, P., et al. (2026) · Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.2015 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Emotional risks of AI companions demand attention
(2025) · Nature Machine Intelligence · doi:10.1038/s42256-025-01093-9 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
When large language models are reliable for judging empathic communication
Kumar, A., Poungpeth, N., Yang, D., Farrell, E. L., Lambert, B. L., & Groh, M. (2026) · Nature Machine Intelligence · doi:10.1038/s42256-025-01169-6 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Interaction with AI companions and psychological well-being
Zhang, Y., Zhao, D., Hancock, J. T., Kraut, R. E., & Yang, D. (2026) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02516-2 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Artificial intelligence characters are dangerous without legal guardrails
Duffourc, M. N., Verhees, F. G., & Gilbert, S. (2025) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02375-3 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Emotional Resonance and Self-Esteem: The Role of Humanlike Competencies From Mental Health Chatbots
Jialan, S., Deng, Z., Deng, Z., & Song, D. (2025) · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management · doi:10.1109/tem.2025.3625427 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
From moral panic to normalization: comparing users and non-users of AI companionship apps
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LLM-“Friends” are Hostile Scaffolds in the Age of Loneliness
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Untitled work
Eom, D., Renner, J., & Chinn, S. (2026) · arXiv (preprint)
- Authors
- Adam, D.
- Corresponding author
- Adam, David
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2025-05-06
- Volume
- 641
- Issue
- 8062
- Pages
- 296-298
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W4410128158
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 9
- FWCI
- 21.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- AI companions, virtual companions, mental health, addiction, dependency, AI harms, benefits of artificial intelligence, long-term effects
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