My name is Delfina and I am a Social Informatics Masters student at the University of Ljubljana, and I am inviting you to participate in a research study, as part of my final thesis, about how people experience artificial intelligence (AI) companionship.
To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old, and you must have interacted with an AI for companionship purposes at least once in the past 3 months. Under AI companionship we understand a relationship with a chatbot you regularly interact with and trust, for support, advice, or everyday talks for social and/or emotional support. These AI include dedicated companion apps (such as Replika, Paradot, Xiaoice), social-media embedded AI (such as Grok or Meta AI), and general-purpose AI (such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini).
In this survey, you will be asked about your AI companion; you’ll also be asked to answer a number of questions about how you think and feel about the companion. The survey will take about 12 minutes of your time. Involvement in the study is voluntary, which means you can choose whether to participate and that you may withdraw from the study at any time without any consequence.
The survey does not ask for any sensitive personal information and we will make sure that your responses cannot be linked to you. The data will be used solely for research purposes. There are no specific risks associated with this research. Participation also does not bring any specific benefits other than being able to share your opinions and experiences. However, your answers can improve our understanding of how people use AI for companionship.
By proceeding, you confirm that you are 18 years of age or older, you are a recent user of an AI companion app, and you agree to participate in this research study.
If you have any inquiry about this study, please contact me at chatbotmtstudy@outlook.com.
You can start the survey by clicking on the button “Next page”. There are no right or wrong answers here, so please answer honestly.