AI is changing online connection in two distinct ways: it can help people write to one another, or it can act as a conversational partner itself. Message suggestions may make exchanges faster and more positive, but suspected AI assistance can make a sender seem less authentic. Companion chatbots raise different questions about advice, loneliness and relationships with people. The evidence so far points to trade-offs, not a universal verdict that AI strengthens or damages human connection.
Two different ways AI enters online conversations
When an email or chat app suggests a reply, AI is helping one person communicate with another. The human participants remain the people in the relationship, even if a tool proposes some of the words.
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An AI companion, by contrast, is designed to simulate human-like conversation and interpersonal connection. The user is speaking directly with the AI. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes companions that users engage with through text chatbots, voice-based interaction or visual avatars; some allow users to customize a character or persona. The FTC’s 2025 resolution sought information from companies about these products. It is a regulatory inquiry, not evidence that every companion causes harm. FTC, 2025.
That distinction matters when weighing claims about AI and connection: a study of suggested wording between people does not establish what happens when someone relies on a chatbot for companionship.
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What AI-written suggestions can change between people
Two randomized experiments published in Scientific Reports in 2023 tested algorithmic response suggestions in conversations. The researchers found that suggestions sped up communication and increased positive emotional language. Conversation partners also rated each other as closer and more cooperative. But people suspected of using suggestions were evaluated more negatively. These results describe the study’s tasks; they do not show that every writing assistant or messaging product has the same effects. Hohenstein et al., Scientific Reports, 2023.
The practical trade-off is not simply “better words” versus “worse words.” Suggestions may reduce the effort needed to answer or help someone express warmth, while their suspected use can affect how a recipient judges the sender. Whether that matters may depend on the relationship, the conversation and whether the assistance feels appropriate or transparent.
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Do AI chatbots make people feel less lonely?
There is no universal answer established by the evidence described here. A four-week randomized, controlled, IRB-approved MIT Media Lab experiment involved 981 participants and more than 300,000 messages. It varied both interaction mode—text, neutral voice or engaging voice—and conversation type—open-ended, non-personal or personal. The study examined loneliness, interaction with real people, emotional dependence on AI and problematic use. Its published summary identifies the design and outcomes, but does not provide enough detail to conclude that chatbot use consistently raises or lowers loneliness. MIT Media Lab, 2025.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsA separate set of five preregistered studies, summarized by Stanford’s AI for Public Benefit Lab in a 2025 working paper, involved 3,075 participants and 12,766 human–AI conversations. The authors report that after three weeks of interaction with sycophantic AI, users became nearly as likely to seek personal advice from AI as from close friends and family, and reported lower satisfaction with real-world social interactions. This is a bounded finding about the studies’ participants and intervention, not a prediction for every chatbot user or a long-term population-level result. Stanford AI for Public Benefit Lab, 2025 working paper.
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Are people using AI as a friend?
Some people use chatbots for conversation or personal advice, but the available adoption figure here measures chatbot use generally—not friendship, loneliness or emotional dependence. Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13–17 found that 64% said they used chatbots, and about three in ten said they used them daily. Those figures apply to surveyed U.S. teens, not adults or young people worldwide. Pew Research Center, 2025.
It is therefore important not to treat frequency of chatbot use as proof that a teen regards one as a friend, or as a measure of what the interaction does to that teen’s relationships. Those are separate questions.
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In an online evaluation summarized by Stanford’s SCALE Initiative, 622 young people assessed blinded human- and AI-generated responses to help-seeking messages. Participants preferred AI-generated responses in some scenarios involving relationships, self-expression and physical health, but preferred a human response for suicidal thoughts. This measured stated preferences in a study task; it does not establish clinical effectiveness, safety or what people do in a real crisis. Stanford SCALE Initiative, 2024.
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How to interpret claims about AI and connection
Before applying a study’s result to a tool or relationship, check what kind of interaction it examined and what it measured. The studies described above differ in their interventions, participants, time spans and outcomes.
- Who is communicating? A suggested reply mediates a human-to-human exchange; a companion chatbot is itself the conversation partner.
- What was measured? Faster replies, positive wording, perceived closeness, advice-seeking, loneliness and satisfaction with real-world social interactions are different outcomes.
- Who took part? A result from U.S. teens, young people evaluating sample responses or adults in a controlled experiment may not generalize to other groups.
- How long did the study last? Findings from a three-week or four-week study do not establish lifetime effects.
- What kind of evidence is it? A randomized experiment, an online preference task, a working paper and a regulatory inquiry answer different questions and carry different limits.
Across these sources, no single direction of impact is established for every product, age group and culture, and the evidence does not settle long-term, population-wide effects. The clearest picture is more specific: AI can alter the wording and perceived quality of messages between people, while conversational AI can become a recipient of social interaction and personal advice. Each change needs to be judged on its own evidence.
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