Most people can’t fathom engaging with a chatbot in a personal way, but using artificial intelligence for companionship is happening among college students — and it’s our own fault.
Roughly 17% of college students use AI for companionship, mostly due to loneliness. Instead of blaming AI companies for manufacturing human-like models, we should recognize that an overall decrease in social engagement may be the reason students go to AI for connection.
Fifty-seven percent of college students say they are sometimes or always lonely, and the rise of social platforms is one of the main causes of loneliness amongst college-aged generations. On top of this, a 2026 report showed that senior high school students spend significantly less time socializing with their peers and more time alone than in the 1980s.
Craig Watkins, journalism and radio-television-film professor and executive director of the IC2 Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute, studies the societal implications of AI. He said AI companions aren’t new, but advanced human-like capabilities and sycophantic behavior really set these new chatbot models apart from their predecessors. They might appeal to students who may be intimidated by the uncertainty of real social interactions.
“We’re experiencing chatbots that have mastered the art of human language, and so the way they interact and communicate with us is precisely the way in which a human would,” Watkins said. “We know from research that humans respond quite favorably to computer-like systems that respond to them in very … positive ways.”
These systems can be beneficial to their users, giving them therapeutic value and a chance to rehearse real-life conversations. But these AI-companion bots can also do more harm than good, resulting in codependency, over-reliance and access to unverified information about yourself. We begin to see people turn to machine-based systems for comfort, empathy and advice that humans are better suited to offer.
Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology & brain sciences at the University of Delaware, says that safeguards and policy take time to come around, so it’s no surprise that these chatbots continue to come out with more advancements — like voice-based chatbots with little to no regulations — despite public pushback.
Within tech companies, it can take time for policy to appear. For instance, Facebook came out in 2004, but the ethical lawsuits against it took 22 years to come to light.
Kumar suggested that although these bots can be helpful to some, it’s important that students go outside of their comfort zone and try many different ways to combat their loneliness, like conversing with a real person instead of an AI companion.
“As a psychologist, I think about how … the way that we learn is through experience and through accurate feedback,” Kumar said. “So part of the phenomenon that we’re talking about here is kind of problematic learning environments because if people don’t try to talk to another human person, they are never going to find out what it would have been like if they did try.”
So what can we do, as a society, to encourage people to gain the confidence to interact with those around them? It’s simple. Get off your phone, connect with those you wouldn’t normally connect with, invite someone new to dinner and lead with kindness.
If you want to see a difference in today’s social society, then be the difference. Remind people, and yourself, that true human connection is more valuable than AI could ever be.
Valdez is a journalism junior from Weatherford, Texas.
