Talking to a bot might feel good in the moment, but a growing body of research suggests it won’t cure loneliness

Talking to a chatbot might make you feel better about the conversation, but it may also leave you feeling lonelier. 

That’s the finding of a new experiment out of Munich-based global economic research network CESifo, which tracked more than 12,000 French adults over the course of four weeks, and found having conversations with sometimes sycophantic AI chatbots left people thinking the conversation went better than it would have otherwise gone with a human.

For 28 days, half of the 12,365 people in the study were tasked with holding personal conversations with AI chatbots, while the rest went about their normal days. At the end of the month, the three researchers found the group that was typing their personal narratives with chatbots rated the “conversations” as enjoyable and even more pleasant, on average, than the control group.

However, the same group also self-reported their loneliness rose, just as their life satisfaction fell, and depressive affect ticked up, in comparison to the control group. They also had more meals alone and spent less time in-person with friends and family per week. 

“I would imagine that in some cases an AI conversation may reinforce grievances or........

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