Can Chatbots Ever Provide More Social Connection Than Humans?

Abstract

Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have used social chatbots designed to provide companionship to their users. But can people reap genuine social benefits from interacting with chatbots? In Studies 1a&b (pre-registered; N=801), participants shared good news with a supportive or less supportive interaction partner whom they believed was either a chatbot or a human. Participants’ feelings following the interaction were influenced by their partner’s response style, but not by whether their partner was human. In Study 2 (pre-registered, N=201), participants derived more social connection from having a supportive conversation with ChatGPT than with a less supportive human. In a final pre-registered study (Study 3; N=401), we identified an important boundary condition, demonstrating that the relative benefits of interacting with chatbots (vs. humans) may be reduced when they claim too much humanity.