Nature Study: Intensive AI Companion Use Correlates with Lower Well-being

steverathje2 · x · 2026-08-05

A recent study published in Nature Human Behaviour investigates how interacting with AI companions relates to psychological well-being.

Data Sample: Analyzed self-reported data from 1,131 US adults, including 4,664 chat sessions (over 464,000 messages) from 237 participants.
Key Findings: Users with smaller real-world social networks were more likely to report using chatbots primarily for companionship, which was significantly associated with lower psychological well-being.
Intensifying Factors: This negative association was stronger among users with highly intensive interaction patterns and those engaging in high levels of self-disclosure.

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