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Do Personal AI Conversations Reduce Loneliness? Evidence from a Pre-Registered Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Louis Fréget
  • Ariell Reshef
  • Claudia Senik

Abstract

Generative AI is increasingly promoted as a remedy for loneliness. We test this claim in a large-scale pre-registered experiment on a large sample of French adults. Participants assigned to treatment were asked to hold at least one personal conversation a day with a generative AI tool of their choice for 28 days; the control group continued as usual. The intervention raised socio-emotional AI use substantially. This led to an increase in subjective loneliness, a decline in life satisfaction, and a rise in depressive affect and in objective isolation, with more dinners taken alone. The effects are consistently adverse across outcome categories.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Fréget & Ariell Reshef & Claudia Senik, 2026. "Do Personal AI Conversations Reduce Loneliness? Evidence from a Pre-Registered Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 12882, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12882
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    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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