Utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance social connections - the alleviating effect of emotionally intelligent chatbots on loneliness.

Objective: To enhance social connections using artificial intelligence and explore the alleviating effect of emotionally intelligent chatbots on loneliness.

Method: A stratified sampling method was used to distribute the Emotional Social Loneliness Inventory (ESLI) to full-time college students. Based on the ESLI assessment results, 120 young people with severe loneliness were selected as the research subjects. Regularly interact with Replika chatbot to obtain psychological support and academic assistance (continuous intervention for 1 month). Compare the scores of the ESLI scale, SASS CS scale, IES scale, and CD-RISC scale in young individuals with severe loneliness before and 1, 3, and 5 months after intervention.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in ESLI scores between the two groups of college students before intervention (P>0.05). After 1, 3, and 5 months of intervention, the ESLI scores of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in social anxiety scores between the two groups of college students before intervention (P>0.05). After 1, 3, and 5 months of intervention, the social anxiety scores of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in social self-efficacy and psychological resilience levels between the two groups of college students before intervention (P>0.05). After intervention, the social self-efficacy and CD-RISC scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: High emotional intelligence AI chatbots can significantly improve and alleviate feelings of loneliness and enhance social skills, opening up new avenues for technology assisted psychological intervention.