Emotional attachment and problematic involvement with socially interactive AI: A critical narrative review of embodied and conversational systems.
- 1Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Atatürk Faculty of Education; Institute of Educational Sciences; Marmara University, Maltepe Campus, Başıbüyük Yolu Sok. No: 6AG, Maltepe, Istanbul, 34852, Türkiye.
- 2Department of Psychology and Health Management, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Szent Imre út 26-28, Győr, 9024, Hungary.
- 3Department of Developmental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Bécsi út 324, Budapest, 1037, Hungary.
Abstract
Background
Socially interactive AI can elicit meaningful relational experiences. Studies often conflate attachment, anthropomorphism, companionship, dependence, and addiction, and group embodied robots with dissimilar software.Methods
This critical narrative review of a reconstructed, non-exhaustive corpus (Grant & Booth, 2009) is interpretive, not aggregative, because the initial search records disagree. We rebuilt the evidence set from the initially identified literature, separated primary from contextual sources, and sorted them by embodiment and dialogue architecture. Coding kept attachment functions distinct from related constructs. A reproducible OpenAlex and PubMed search (2010-2025) retrieved only one of the 12 primary reports. A coverage probe found 34 further provisionally eligible reports. We claim no exhaustive coverage or full PRISMA compliance.Results
Reclassification left 12 primary reports and seven contextual sources. In these reports, relational significance appeared with embodied robots, non-LLM systems, and generative systems, carried by co-presence and touch or by conversational contingency, personalisation, and apparent continuity. Most measured companionship, trust, social presence, perceived support, or one problematic-use indicator. Few covered more than one attachment-system function. None established a behavioural-addiction syndrome. The predominantly cross-sectional, self-selected evidence cannot establish whether heavier use causes loneliness.Conclusions
A relationship with an AI system can matter without amounting to reciprocal human attachment or behavioural addiction. Within the reviewed corpus, the evidence supports a broad, uneven continuum of involvement. Omitted studies may change the apparent mix of constructs, technologies, and outcomes. Progress requires longitudinal, technology-stratified studies with construct-specific measures that establish temporal order and impairment and separate embodiment from generative capability.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{impram2026emotional,
title = {{Emotional attachment and problematic involvement with socially interactive AI: A critical narrative review of embodied and conversational systems.}},
author = {Onour Impram and Gökçe Kılınç and Neha Pirwani and Attila Szabo},
journal = {Addictive behaviors reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.abrep.2026.100757},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921150},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Emotional attachment and problematic involvement with socially interactive AI: A critical narrative review of embodied and conversational systems.
AU - Onour Impram
AU - Gökçe Kılınç
AU - Neha Pirwani
AU - Attila Szabo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/10
JO - Addictive behaviors reports
DO - 10.1016/j.abrep.2026.100757
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921150
AB - Background Socially interactive AI can elicit meaningful relational experiences. Studies often conflate attachment, anthropomorphism, companionship, dependence, and addiction, and group embodied robots with dissimilar software.Methods This critical narrative review of a reconstructed, non-exhaustive corpus (Grant & Booth, 2009) is interpretive, not aggregative, because the initial search records disagree. We rebuilt the evidence set from the initially identified literature, separated primary from contextual sources, and sorted them by embodiment and dialogue architecture. Coding kept attachment functions distinct from related constructs. A reproducible OpenAlex and PubMed search (2010-2025) retrieved only one of the 12 primary reports. A coverage probe found 34 further provisionally eligible reports. We claim no exhaustive coverage or full PRISMA compliance.Results Reclassification left 12 primary reports and seven contextual sources. In these reports, relational significance appeared with embodied robots, non-LLM systems, and generative systems, carried by co-presence and touch or by conversational contingency, personalisation, and apparent continuity. Most measured companionship, trust, social presence, perceived support, or one problematic-use indicator. Few covered more than one attachment-system function. None established a behavioural-addiction syndrome. The predominantly cross-sectional, self-selected evidence cannot establish whether heavier use causes loneliness.Conclusions A relationship with an AI system can matter without amounting to reciprocal human attachment or behavioural addiction. Within the reviewed corpus, the evidence supports a broad, uneven continuum of involvement. Omitted studies may change the apparent mix of constructs, technologies, and outcomes. Progress requires longitudinal, technology-stratified studies with construct-specific measures that establish temporal order and impairment and separate embodiment from generative capability.
SN - 2352-8532
ER -