ArticleAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences2025
Artificial intelligence chatbots as a source of virtual social support: Implications for loneliness and anxiety management.
Article in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Remaining Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Spiritual and Psychiatric Reflections on Magnifica Humanitas.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- AI Chatbot Dependence as an Indirect Link Between Social Anxiety and Psychological Resilience: The Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A Q Methodological Study on Algorithmic Intimacy, Social Connection, Well-Being, and the Boundaries of Autonomy in University Students' Conversational Artificial Intelligence Experiences.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Social Health: A Narrative Review of Uses, Advantages, Challenges, and Future Directions.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Artificial intelligence in geriatric healthcare: a scoping review.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Dual Chain-Mediation of GenAI Chatbots on Loneliness: Perceived Misinformation Exposure and User Trust via Negative Emotions.International journal of public health · 2026Article
- A critical narrative synthesis of psychological correlates, measurement, and reported findings on conversational AI engagement and dependence-related constructs.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Loneliness and problematic use of conversational artificial intelligence among college students: the serial mediating roles of social anxiety and self-control.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- From predictive algorithms to generative intelligence: a decadal bibliometric mapping of global research frontiers in AI-driven mental health (2016-2025).Australian journal of psychology · 2026Review
- Warmth and competence in affective companion virtual humans: differential effects on behavioral intention via hedonic benefits.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- AI-mediated environments and the reconfiguration of symbolic convergence: cognitive implications for shared meaning formation.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Artificial intelligence chatbots as a source of virtual social support: Implications for loneliness and anxiety management.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Loneliness, social isolation, and anxiety affect millions of people across the world. Communication technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, can potentially offer support to those experiencing mental health challenges by providing companionship and support. Specifically, social AI can mimic human interaction, which may help alleviate loneliness and anxiety through person-centered messaging. Despite growing AI usage, there is limited research on the effectiveness of specific message types in this context. Thus, this study employed a 2 (person-centered message: high vs. low) × 2 (context: loneliness vs. anxiety) between-subjects design to test how different supportive messages from social AI chatbots impact subsequent outcomes. Results revealed that high person-centered messages are associated with increased emotional validation. Furthermore, the quality of social support and interpersonal warmth (IW) mediated the relationship between high person-centered messages and emotional validation. Finally, the mediation effect between high person-centered messages and emotional validation via the quality of emotional support was moderated by social presence, but not the mediation effect between high person-centered messages and emotional validation via IW. These results demonstrate the importance of developing social AI chatbots that employ messages high in person-centeredness, as these messages are most important for addressing mental health concerns.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.