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How lonely do you feel right now from 1-10? Does your loneliness change after you receive a text from a friend? What if the text came from a chatbot?
The question is especially important during Emotional Wellness Month, a time dedicated to improving emotional well-being. As AI-based therapy tools like chatbots become more sophisticated, the debate over their effectiveness in alleviating loneliness intensifies.
AI Companions: Flawed Research
Imagine you're in a research study and are asked to rate your loneliness after some type of intervention and are paid a buck or two to answer a few questions. You know the right answer of course, the study telegraphs what you should report: I feel less lonely when I get some kind of interaction. But, "feelings" are notoriously hard to pin down. I feel loneliness of 7 right now; no, it's a 5, or a 6, or I'm not sure. But for one dollar I just want to finish this survey.
The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece on September 17, 2024 by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Julian De Freitas reporting on his teams' nonpeer reviewed finding that chatbots reduce loneliness equally well as human interactions. De Freitas' team did a lot of research but a major flaw in the study was relying on self-reported feelings for mostly one-time very short interactions by participants who signed up to be poorly paid to take surveys. Some of the people in this study earned as little at 30 cents for their time and 40% of the respondents were in India. How much introspection will you devote to a survey about your feelings for almost no money? And, this assumes your ability to assess your emotional state by introspection produces something meaningful and comparable to others.
If the study participants didn't know the "right" answer I might buy their results. But, it gets worse. The "human interaction" condition matched two unknown individuals on Amazon's Mechanical Turk piece-rate workplace. How much less lonely would you report feeling after sharing a text with a complete stranger who is being paid to chat with you for a few minutes? This is just bad science.
Emotions vs. Feelings: A Key Distinction
Emotions are the neurophysiologic responses to a stimulus or environment. They are objectively measured with a variety of apparatus and, when baseline values are removed, are quite comparable across individuals. On the other hand, feelings are one's conscious appraisal of one's emotional state. Feelings are a poor indicator of emotional responses which are generated in the unconscious regions of the brain. Feelings are also influenced by people wanting to give the "right" answer. For example, that interacting with a chatbot or human makes me feel less lonely.
How about doing real science: emotions rule and feelings drool.
Peer-reviewed scientific research from my lab shows that having six high-value emotional moments per day—whether human, a movie or a chatbot—boosts emotional fitness. Individuals who consistently get six key moments a day thrive by being full engaged in life and those around them. While chatbots may provide momentary companionship, they only offer a slice of what we need as humans. Emotional well-being comes from deep, authentic connections with others, purposeful activities, and shared experiences that can't easily be replicated by AI chatbots or a few text messages from a stranger. Thriving in the Harvard study could have been measured using SIX that objectively captures the value of social-emotional experiences since each interaction is not equally valuable. Doing this over the course of weeks or months would provide a valid evaluation to see if human interactions or AI interactions improved thriving or not.
AI Companions for Emotional Wellness?
AI-based therapy and AI companions have a role to play in Emotional Wellness Month and beyond, particularly for those who struggle to access traditional forms of support. However, they should be viewed as complementary tools, not substitutes for real human connections. Emotional well-being is a complex, deeply personal journey, and while some peer-reviewed research suggests that AI can help, it’s interactions with others that provide the richness needed to live a fulfilled life. As social creatures we need valuable social-emotional interactions to be happy, healthy and live longer lives.
The focus on mental well-being during Emotional Wellness Month is important, and the conversation around AI-based therapy and AI companions deserves deeper and more comprehensive study. Humanoid robots are already available and may provide a sufficiently powerful simulacrum of human social interactions to reduce loneliness and improve emotional fitness. More study is certainly needed. For now, AI chatbots may offer momentary relief from loneliness, which is good, but emotional fitness requires deeper, more meaningful interactions that generate a sufficient number of high-value key moments. The SIX app measures every interaction users have, whether human or AI. Continuous, objective, and predictive measurement is the necessary step to live a radically fulfilled life. That is exactly why we built SIX.
The Science
The SIX app tracks Key Moments in users' days based on over 20 years of peer-reviewed neuroscience research. Key moments arise when your brain releases oxytocin and dopamine, the neurochemicals essential for well-being. These moments are often hidden from our consciousness, but SIX makes them visible by applying algorithms we developed to signals we apply to wearable devices. SIX show users what truly contributes to their emotional fitness. SIX goes beyond surface-level feelings to measure the true value of each interaction so users can curate their lives to thrive. It’s not just about feeling less lonely—it’s about building relationships, and fostering meaningful connections that improve emotional health.
What You Can Do
This Emotional Wellness Month, start your journey to radical fulfillment by discovering and expanding on the moments that matter most. Download the free SIX app today and begin turning everyday experiences into opportunities for a happier, healthier, and more fulfilled life.