Artificial companions? AI, mental health and the sociological reconfiguration of human relationships

Abstract

Emotional life today is shaped more and more by digital technologies. Therapeutic chatbots and automated diagnostics now occupy intimate corners of mental health care, prompting new expectations of support and connection. This article asks whether AI interactions can recreate or reconfigure experiences of friendship, trust and care. The analysis brings theoretical perspectives from relational sociology and critical algorithm studies into dialogue with emerging empirical research on users’ interactions with mental-health chatbots. Drawing on this combined lens, the article explores how people invest emotionally in systems designed to imitate empathic attention and considers the implications of predictive monitoring for digital subjectivity. Rather than treating AI as a replacement for human ties, it argues that these systems function as socio-technical actors within an ecology of care, subtly reshaping emotional norms and social inequality.