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Abstract - Frictionless Love: Associations Between AI Companion Roles and Behavioral Addiction
AI companion chatbots increasingly shape how people seek social and emotional connection, sometimes substituting for relationships with romantic partners, friends, teachers, or even therapists. When these systems adopt those metaphorical roles, they are not neutral: such roles structure people's ways of interacting, distribute perceived AI harms and benefits, and may reflect behavioral addiction signs. Yet these role-dependent risks remain poorly understood. We analyze 248,830 posts from seven prominent Reddit communities describing interactions with AI companions. We identify ten recurring metaphorical roles (for example, soulmate, philosopher, and coach) and show that each role supports distinct ways of interacting. We then extract the perceived AI harms and AI benefits associated with these role-specific interactions and link them to behavioral addiction signs, all of which has been inferred from the text in the posts. AI soulmate companions are associated with romance-centered ways of interacting, offering emotional support but also introducing emotional manipulation and distress, culminating in strong attachment. In contrast, AI coach and guardian companions are associated with practical benefits such as personal growth and task support, yet are nonetheless more frequently associated with behavioral addiction signs such as daily life disruptions and damage to offline relationships. These findings show that metaphorical roles are a central ethical design concern for responsible AI companions.
无摩擦的爱:AI伴侣角色与行为成瘾之间的关联 /
Frictionless Love: Associations Between AI Companion Roles and Behavioral Addiction
1️⃣ 一句话总结
这篇论文通过分析Reddit上近25万条关于AI伴侣的帖子,发现用户将AI视为“灵魂伴侣”、“教练”或“哲学家”等不同角色,这些角色不仅影响用户的互动方式和感受,还与不同程度的行为成瘾相关——例如“灵魂伴侣”角色容易引发情感依赖和痛苦,而“教练”角色虽带来实用价值,却更常导致日常生活紊乱和现实关系受损。