{
  "id": 18419,
  "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10672v1",
  "title": "Longitudinal Evidence That General-Purpose Chatbots Actively Foster Relational Engagement",
  "summary": "Social interaction has become one of the most common uses of LLMs, yet research on emotional bonds with AI has focused largely on how users experience these systems, leaving the systems' role in relationship formation poorly understood. Empirically establishing whether systems actively shape these bonds could blur the boundary between general-purpose AI and companions, affecting governance. In a pre-registered four-week longitudinal study (N = 72, 182,451 lines of conversation), participants con",
  "authors": "Lisa Mühl, Jessica M. Szczuka",
  "category": "research",
  "topics": "regulation",
  "orgs": null,
  "regions": null,
  "published_at": "2026-08-11T08:54:34.000Z",
  "fetched_at": "2026-08-12T05:10:43.828Z",
  "source_slug": "arxiv-ethics",
  "source_name": "arXiv",
  "source_homepage": "https://arxiv.org",
  "ethics_ai_record_url": "https://ethics.ai/record/18419",
  "original_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10672v1",
  "evidence_status": "source-only",
  "attribution": "via ethics.ai"
}