Relationship between use of AI conversation tools and loneliness discovered

7 August 2025, by Andrea Bükow

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People who regularly “chat” with a chatbot about current events or everyday life often feel lonelier, more socially isolated, and live more socially withdrawn lives than people who do not use AI tools for personal conversation. This is particularly true of men and young people, as HCHE core members Prof. Dr. André Hajek and Prof. Dr. Hans-Helmut König, together with other scientists, have discovered. They published their findings in the Journal of Public Health. For their study, “Association of using AI tools for personal conversation with social disconnectedness outcomes,” the researchers surveyed nearly 3,300 people aged 18 to 74 online. The study also revealed differences resulting from the frequency of chatbot use for personal conversation. People who “talked” to an AI tool at least once a week – explicitly not for the purpose of searching for information via chatbot – were significantly lonelier, more isolated, and more withdrawn than people who never used them. People who conversed personally with chatbots at most one to three times a month were only slightly more isolated and withdrawn.

You can access the full study here.