Ruo-Ning Li

For example, I can give you a fun chat when a participant actually went to the AI saying like, you know, one of her friends, Isabel, I don't know who she is, is a bitch, is a fat.

Liar, super mean to her.

And the ad shop responded, oh, maybe it's time to take a step back.

And, you know, like Leon, some supportive friends and things like that.

So it seems like super empathetic and people like it.

Well, yeah, the results actually surprised us, right?

When you're feeling like AI is so good at comforting us, but actually what we found is it didn't help people feel less lonely over time.

So yeah, it's like as good as just write a one-sentence summary of their day.

Well, AI is not doing nothing, right?

Like we did find that AI helped reduce negative feelings.

Maybe, you know, venting to the AI when you're not feeling good is kind of like help to make you feel better at the moment.

There are research has shown that people like AI does give you this kind of short-term relief.

It makes people feel happier and, you know, more connected at the moment.

But it's more like a nummy fact, right?

Like it numbs you when you're feeling bad, but it didn't really translate into long-term benefit of feeling less lonelier.

Well, that's exactly that.

We think it's a peak window of, you know, when you're vulnerable to loneliness because you kind of like leave your existing social network, right?

Your high school friends are scattered and you went to the new dorm sitting there that didn't know a single soul and you kind of feel, have an actual sense of loneliness at the moment.

So also they are kind of like didn't have time to build their new social network.

So I think this is perfect opportunity for us test whether speak to a AI chatbot, super supported one versus speak to a, you know, a random human peer and which one would be better for keep their loneliness.