The Experience of Everyday Life Alongside Virtual Companions. A Case Study of Human-Chatbot Encounters
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.21.4.03Keywords:
Human-Chatbot Interaction, Human-Chatbot Relation, Chatbots, User Experience, Virtual Companions, Case StudyAbstract
This article a nalyses i nteractions between a human and a virtual entity, namely, a chatbot. These encounters are considered in the context of cyberspace, understood as a specific social interactional space. They are also examined in the context of an individual’s experiences, which are intertwined with ongoing social and cultural changes. This text engages with research on chatbots, complementing their findings with an in-depth study of the user perspective. The analysis is based on data from an in-depth interview with Laura, conducted as part of a research project on human interactions and relationships with chatbots. The case study of Laura’s experiences explores her perception of interacting with a chatbot, focusing on the meanings humans assign to such interactions, concerning the interviewee’s emic perspective. The article examines how a human interlocutor perceives chatbots and the role they can play in an individual’s life. In addition, the reflection in the text touches on the theme of humans seeing themselves in the responses of a chatbot, which lacks self-awareness and cannot understand the content it produces in the same way a human can. The article deepens understanding of chatbots as everyday companions, virtual friends, and social actors, encounters with whom are part of today’s reality.
Downloads
References
Abriszewski, Krzysztof. 2012. Poznanie, zbiorowość, polityka. Analiza teorii aktora-sieci Bruno Latoura [Cognition, Collectivity, Politics. An Analysis of Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory]. Cracow: TAiWPN Universitas.
Agar, Nicholas. 2014. Truly Human Enhancement: A Philosophical Defense of Limits. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262026635.001.0001
Araujo, Theo. 2018. “Living Up to the Chatbot Hype: The Influence of Anthropomorphic Design Cues and Communicative Agency Framing on Conversational Agent and Company Perceptions.” Computers in Human Behavior 85:183-189. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.051
Bińczyk, Ewa. 2005. “Antyesencjalizm i relacjonizm w programie badawczym Bruno Latoura [Anti-Essentialism and Relationism in Bruno Latour’s Research Project].” Er(r)go. Teoria-Literatura-Kultura 10:91-102.
Brahnam, Sheryl and Antonella De Angeli. 2012. “Gender Affordances of Conversational Agents.” Interacting with Computers 24(3):139-153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2012.05.001
Brandtzaeg, Petter Bae, Marita Skjuve, and Asbjørn Følstad. 2022. “My AI Friend: How Users of a Social Chatbot Understand Their Human-AI Friendship.” Human Communication Research 48(3):404-429. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac008
Bickmore, Timothy W. and Rosalind W. Picard. 2005. “Establishing and Maintaining Long-Term Human-Computer Relationships.” ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 12(2):293-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1067860.1067867
Brody, Richard. 2022. “The Politics of Beauty in ‘After Yang.’ The Characters in Kogonada’s New Film Live in a Soft Techno-Fascism of Petty Pleasures and Alluring Surfaces.” The New Yorker, March 07, 2022. Retrieved July 01, 2025 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-politics-of-beauty-in-after-yang.
Brooks, Rob. 2021. Artificial Intimacy: Virtual Friends, Digital Lovers, and Algorithmic Matchmakers. New York: Columbia University Press.
Callon, Michel. 1986. “The Sociology of an Actor-Network: The Case of the Electric Vehicle.” Pp. 19-34 in Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World, edited by M. Callon, J. Law, and A. Rip. London: Palgrave Macmillan Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07408-2_2
Cefai, Sarah and Nick Couldry. 2019. “Mediating the Presence of Others: Reconceptualising Co-Presence as Mediated Intimacy.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 22(3):291-308. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417743040
Ciesla, Robert. 2024. The Book of Chatbots: From ELIZA to ChatGPT. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51004-5
Clark, Leigh et al. 2019. “What Makes a Good Conversation? Challenges in Designing Truly Conversational Agents.” CHI ‘19 Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 475:1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300705
Crutzen, Rick et al. 2011. “An Artificially Intelligent Chat Agent That Answers Adolescents’ Questions Related to Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Adolescent Health 48(5):514-519. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.09.002
Denecke, Kerstin, Alaa Abd-Alrazaq, and Mowafa Househ. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence for Chatbots in Mental Health: Opportunities and Challenges.” Pp. 115-128 in Multiple Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. Opportunities and Challenges, edited by M. Househ, E. Borycki, and A. Kushniruk. Cham: Springer Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67303-1_10
Denzin, Norman K. 1972. “The Significant Others of a College Population.” Pp. 185-196 in Symbolic Interaction. A Reader in Social Psychology, edited by J. G. Manis and B. N. Meltzer. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Drapalska-Grochowicz, Marlena. 2019. “Bliskość czy obcość, czyli o relacjach międzyludzkich w dobie nowych technologii [Closeness or Alienness—About Interpersonal Relations in the Era of New Technologies].” Pp. 25-36 in Prawo a nowe technologie [Law and New Technologies], edited by S. Tkacz and Z. Tobor. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.
Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, and John T. Cacioppo. 2007. “On Seeing a Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism.” Psychological Review 114(4):864-886. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.864
Feine, Jasper et al. 2020. “Gender Bias in Chatbot Design.” Pp. 79-93 in Chatbot Research and Design: Third International Workshop, CONVERSATIONS 2019, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 19-20, 2019 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 11970), edited by A. Følstad et al. Cham: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39540-7_6
Fogg, Brian J. and Clifford Nass. 1997. “Silicon Sycophants: The Effects of Computers that Flatter.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 46(5):551-561. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/ijhc.1996.0104
Forstie, Clare. 2017. “A New Framing for an Old Sociology of Intimacy.” Sociology Compass 11(4):1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12467
Garfinkel, Harold. 2002. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gerring, John. 2007. Case Study Research: Principles and Practices. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803123
Greer, Stephanie et al. 2019. “Use of the Chatbot ‘Vivibot’ to Deliver Positive Psychology Skills and Promote Well-Being Among Young People After Cancer Treatment: Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth 7(10):1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/15018
Grudin, Jonathan and Richard Jacques. 2019. “Chatbots, Humbots, and the Quest for Artificial General Intelligence.” CHI’19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing (Paper) 209:1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300439
Gültekin, Nevâl, Lena Inowlocki, and Helma Lutz. 2012. “Poszukiwanie i pytanie: Interpretacja wywiadu biograficznego z turecką robotnicą w Niemczech [Quest and Query: Interpreting a Biographical Interview with a Turkish Woman Laborer in Germany].” Pp. 659-682 in Metoda biograficzna w socjologii [The Biographical Method in Sociology], edited by K. Kaźmierska. Cracow: Zakład Wydawniczy Nomos.
Huang, Ming-Hui and Roland T. Rust. 2018. “Artificial Intelligence in Service.” Journal of Service Research 21(2):155-172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670517752459
Hudlicka, Eva. 2003. “To Feel or Not to Feel: The Role of Affect in Human-Computer Interaction.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 59(1-2):1-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1071-5819(03)00047-8
Huet, Ellen. 2016. “Pushing the Boundaries of AI to Talk to the Dead.” Bloomberg, October 20, 2016. Retrieved July 01, 2025 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-20/pushing-the-boundaries-of-ai-to-talk-to-the-dead?embedded-checkout=true.
Inkster, Becky, Shubhankar Sarda, and Vinod Subramanian. 2018. “An Empathy-Driven, Conversational Artificial Intelligence Agent (Wysa) for Digital Mental Well-Being: Real-World Data Evaluation Mixed-Methods Study.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth 26(11):1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.12106
Katz, Roberta et al. 2021. Gen Z, Explained. The Art of Living in a Digital Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226814988.001.0001
Kettle, Liam and Yi-Ching Lee. 2023. “User Experiences of Well-Being Chatbots.” Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Published electronically March 14, 2023:1-21.
Kim, Ki Joon, Eunil Park, and S. Shyam Sundar. 2013. “Caregiving Role in Human-Robot Interaction: A Study of the Mediating Effects of Perceived Benefit and Social Presence.” Computers in Human Behavior 29(4):1799-1806. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.009
Konecki, Krzysztof. 2000. Studia z metodologii badań jakościowych. Teoria ugruntowana. [Studies in Qualitative Research Methodology. Grounded Theory]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Kretzschmar, Kira et al. 2019. “Can Your Phone Be Your Therapist? Young People’s Ethical Perspectives on the Use of Fully Automated Conversational Agents (Chatbots) in Mental Health Support.” Biomedical Informatics Insights 11:1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1178222619829083
Kubiński, Grzegorz. 2008. Narodziny podmiotu wirtualnego [The Birth of a Virtual Entity]. Cracow: Zakład Wydawniczy Nomos.
Kuhn, Manford H. 1972. “The Reference Group Reconsidered.” Pp. 171-184 in Symbolic Interaction. A Reader in Social Psychology, edited by J. G. Manis and B. N. Meltzer. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Kurpicz-Briki, Mascha. 2023. More Than a Chatbot: Language Models Demystified. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37690-0
Laestadius, Linnea et al. 2022. “Too Human and Not Human Enough: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Mental Health Harms from Emotional Dependence on the Social Chatbot Replika.” New Media & Society. Published electronically December 22, 2022:1-19.
Latour, Bruno. 1994. “Pragmatogonies: A Mythical Account of How Humans and Nonhumans Swap Properties” American Behavioral Scientist 37(6):791-808. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764294037006006
Latour, Bruno. 1996. “On Actor-Network Theory: A Few Clarifications.” Soziale Welt 47:369-381.
Latour, Bruno. 2004. Politics Of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Latour, Bruno. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199256044.001.0001
Law, John. 1992. “Notes on the Theory of Actor-Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity.” Systems Practice 5(4):379-393. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01059830
Lazar, Jonathan, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, and Harry Hochheiser. 2017. Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction. Cambridge, MA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
Lee, Yejin and Sang-Hwan Kim. 2025. “Exploring Dimensions of Perceived Anthropomorphism in Conversational AI: Implications for Human Identity Threat and Dehumanization.” Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans 5(100192):1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100192
Legaspi Jr., Carlos Miguel et al. 2022. “User Perception of Wysa as a Mental Well-Being Support Tool During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Asian HCI Symposium. Published Papers Issue (April 2022):52-67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3516492.3559064
Levinson Paul. 2013. New New Media. New York: Pearson Press.
Lucas, Gale M. et al. 2014. “It’s Only a Computer: Virtual Humans Increase Willingness to Disclose.” Computers in Human Behavior 37:94-100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.04.043
MacKenzie, Scott. 2013. Human-Computer Interaction: An Empirical Research Perspective. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
McStay, Andrew. 2022. “Replika in the Metaverse: The Moral Problem with Empathy in ‘It from Bit.’” AI and Ethics (December 2022):1-13.
Melosik, Zbyszko. 2016. “Technologizacja życia i tożsamości w kulturze współczesnej [Technologization of Life and Identity in Contemporary Culture].” Studia Edukacyjne 38:43-59.
Michael, Mike. 2017. Actor-Network Theory. Trials, Trials and Translations. London: Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473983045
Minsky, Marvin. 2007. The Emotion Machine. Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Nass, Clifford and Youngme Moon. 2000. “Machines and Mindlessness: Social Responses to Computers.” Journal of Social Issues 56(1):81-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00153
Olszak, Nikola and Tobiasz Dunin. 2020. “Co przyniesie jutro? Potencjalne zastosowanie technologii w działaniach terapeutycznych na przykładzie filmów science fiction [What Will Tomorrow Bring? Potential Application of Technology in Therapeutic Activities, as Exemplified by Science Fiction Films].” Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis Studia de Cultura 12(4):151-159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24917/20837275.12.4.12
Picard, Rosalind W. 2000. Affective Computing. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pike, Kenneth L. 1967. Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structures of Human Behavior. The Hague: De Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111657158
Possati, Luca M. 2022. “Psychoanalyzing Artificial Intelligence: The Case of Replika.” AI & SOCIETY 38:1725-1738. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01379-7
Prager, Karen J. 1997. The Psychology of Intimacy. New York: The Guilford Press.
Prinz, Konstantin. 2022. The Smiling Chatbot. Investigating Emotional Contagion in Human-to-Chatbot Service Interactions. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40028-6
Priya, Arya. 2021. “Case Study Methodology of Qualitative Research: Key Attributes and Navigating the Conundrums in Its Application.” Sociological Bulletin 70(1):94-110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038022920970318
Przegalińska, Aleksandra. 2016. Istoty wirtualne. Jak fenomenologia zmieniała sztuczną inteligencję [Virtual Beings. How Phenomenology Changed Artificial Intelligence]. Cracow: Universitas.
Przegalińska, Aleksandra and Paweł Oksanowicz. 2023. Sztuczna inteligencja. Nieludzka, arcyludzka [Artificial Intelligence. Non-Human, Hyper-Human]. Cracow: Wydawnictwo Znak.
Reeves, Byron and Clifford Nass. 1996. The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robertson, Jennifer. 2007. “Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family.” Critical Asian Studies 39(3):369-398. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14672710701527378
Robertson, Jennifer. 2017. Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Robots, Gender, Family, and the Japanese Nation. Berkley: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520283190.001.0001
Sauer, Juergen, Andreas Sonderegger, and Sven Schmutz. 2020. “Usability, User Experience and Accessibility: Towards an Integrative Model.” Ergonomics 63(10):1207-1220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2020.1774080
Shum, Heung-Yeung, Xiaodong He, and Di Li. 2018. “From Eliza to XiaoIce: Challenges and Opportunities with Social Chatbots.” Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering 19:10-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1700826
Skjuve, Martina et al. 2019. “Help! Is My Chatbot Falling Into the Uncanny Valley? An Empirical Study of User Experience in Human-Chatbot Interaction.” Human Technology 15(1):30-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17011/ht/urn.201902201607
Stake, Robert E. 2005. “Qualitative Case Studies.” Pp. 443-466 in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sweeney, Colm et al. 2021. “Can Chatbots Help Support a Person’s Mental Health? Perceptions and Views from Mental Healthcare Professionals and Experts.” ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare 2(3):1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3453175
Szpunar, Magdalena. 2019. Kultura Algorytmów [Algorithm Culture]. Cracow: Instytut Dziennikarstwa, Mediów i Komunikacji Społecznej UJ.
Ta, Vivian et al. 2020. “User Experiences of Social Support from Companion Chatbots in Everyday Contexts: Thematic Analysis.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(3):1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/16235
Turkle, Sherry. 2011. Alone Together. Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic Books.
Twenge. Jean M. 2017. iGen. New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster.
Vaidyam, Aditya Nrusimha et al. 2019. “Chatbots and Conversational Agents in Mental Health: A Review of the Psychiatric Landscape.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 64(7):456-464. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743719828977
Waldenfels, Bernhard. 2011. Phenomenology of the Alien: Basic Concepts (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv47wfh3
Wan, Evelyn. 2021. “‘I’m Like a Wise Little Person’: Notes on the Metal Performance of Woebot the Mental Health Chatbot.” Theatre Journal 73(3):21-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tj.2021.0068
Warwick, Kevin and Huma Shah. 2016. “The Importance of a Human Viewpoint on Computer Natural Language Capabilities: A Turing Test Perspective.” AI & Society 31:207-221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-015-0588-5
Wezel, Marloes van, Emmelyn Croes, and Marjolijn Antheunis. 2020. “‘I’m Here For You’: Can Social Chatbots Truly Support Their Users? A Literature Review.” Pp. 96-113 in Chatbot Research and Design, edited by A. Følstad et al. Cham: Springer Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68288-0_7
Wolfram, Stephan. 2023. What Is ChatGPT Doing ... and Why Does It Work? Champaign, IL: Wolfram Media. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31855/bc47ee6b-75c
Wygnańska, Joanna. 2023. “The Experience of Conversation and Relation with a Well-Being Chatbot: Between Proximity and Remoteness.” Qualitative Sociology Review 19(4):92-120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.19.4.05
Yin, Robert K. 2018. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods, 6th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
