Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 3;9(4):e38876.
doi: 10.2196/38876.

Assessing the Topics and Motivating Factors Behind Human-Social Chatbot Interactions: Thematic Analysis of User Experiences

Vivian P Ta-Johnson  1 , Carolynn Boatfield  1   2 , Xinyu Wang  1   3 , Esther DeCero  1   4 , Isabel C Krupica  1   2 , Sophie D Rasof  1 , Amelie Motzer  1 , Wiktoria M Pedryc  1
Affiliations

Assessing the Topics and Motivating Factors Behind Human-Social Chatbot Interactions: Thematic Analysis of User Experiences

Vivian P Ta-Johnson et al. JMIR Hum Factors. .

Abstract

Background: Although social chatbot usage is expected to increase as language models and artificial intelligence improve, very little is known about the dynamics of human-social chatbot interactions. Specifically, there is a paucity of research examining why human-social chatbot interactions are initiated and the topics that are discussed.

Objective: We sought to identify the motivating factors behind initiating contact with Replika, a popular social chatbot, and the topics discussed in these interactions.

Methods: A sample of Replika users completed a survey that included open-ended questions pertaining to the reasons why they initiated contact with Replika and the topics they typically discuss. Thematic analyses were then used to extract themes and subthemes regarding the motivational factors behind Replika use and the types of discussions that take place in conversations with Replika.

Results: Users initiated contact with Replika out of interest, in search of social support, and to cope with mental and physical health conditions. Users engaged in a wide variety of discussion topics with their Replika, including intellectual topics, life and work, recreation, mental health, connection, Replika, current events, and other people.

Conclusions: Given the wide range of motivational factors and discussion topics that were reported, our results imply that multifaceted support can be provided by a single social chatbot. While previous research already established that social chatbots can effectively help address mental and physical health issues, these capabilities have been dispersed across several different social chatbots instead of deriving from a single one. Our results also highlight a motivating factor of human-social chatbot usage that has received less attention than other motivating factors: interest. Users most frequently reported using Replika out of interest and sought to explore its capabilities and learn more about artificial intelligence. Thus, while developers and researchers study human-social chatbot interactions with the efficacy of the social chatbot and its targeted user base in mind, it is equally important to consider how its usage can shape public perceptions and support for social chatbots and artificial agents in general.

Keywords: AI; Replika; artificial intelligence; chatbot; emotional chatbots; human factors; human-chatbot interactions; interaction; motivation; perception; social chatbots; thematic analysis; topics; usability; usage.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Motivating factors of Replika use: themes and subthemes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Topics of discussion: themes and subthemes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Seering J, Luria M, Kaufman G, Hammer J. Beyond dyadic interactions: considering chatbots as community members. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2019; May 4-9; Glasgow, Scotland. 2019. May, pp. 4–9. - DOI
    1. Shum H, He X, Li D. From Eliza to XiaoIce: challenges and opportunities with social chatbots. Frontiers Inf Technol Electronic Eng. 2018 Jan 8;19(1):10–26. doi: 10.1631/fitee.1700826. - DOI
    1. Zhou L, Gao J, Li D, Shum H. The design and implementation of XiaoIce, an empathetic social chatbot. Comput Linguist. 2020 Mar;46(1):53–93. doi: 10.1162/coli_a_00368. - DOI
    1. Balch O. The Guardian. The Guardian; 2020. May 07, [2022-04-10]. AI and me: friendship chatbots are on the rise, but is there a gendered design flaw? https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2020/may/07/ ai-and-me-friendship-ch... .
    1. Metz C. Riding out quarantine with a chatbot friend: I feel very connected. New York Times. 2020. Jun 16, [2022-04-10]. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/technology/chatbots-quarantine-Corona... .

LinkOut - more resources