Lonely Hearts & Artificial Minds: A Survey Study on Relationships with AI Companions and AI Assistants

This study compares the characteristics and motivations of users of AI companions with users of AI assistants. A cross-sectional survey examined demographic factors, psychological characteristics, and motivational patterns across the two user groups through a cross-sectional survey of 230 respondents. The findings reveal distinct patterns in usage, motivations, and user characteristics between the two types of AI chatbots. Age emerged as a significant predictor with contrasting effects: older individuals showed a higher frequency of AI companion usage and lower AI assistant usage. Users of AI companions demonstrated higher levels of loneliness and lower life satisfaction, while these traits were not significant for AI assistant users. The motivational analysis demonstrated significantly higher scores for all romantic motivations to use AI companions, with the most pronounced differences among emotional support, feeling loved, care for others, and sexual satisfaction, compared to AI assistants. Motivations for psychological growth and emotional support predicted the frequency of AI companion usage. There were no significant motivational predictors for the frequency of AI assistant usage. Mediation analyses revealed that age predicted psychological growth motivation, which in turn predicted both AI companion and AI assistant usage. Additionally, age also predicted motivation for emotional support, which predicted the use of AI assistants.