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Six reasons to study emotional support from conversational artificial intelligence

Nature Human Behaviour (2026)Cite this article

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We discuss six reasons why we need to study the emotional support of human–artificial intelligence (AI) interactions, and offer suggestions on future avenues for evidence-based research and policies regarding user-facing conversational AI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Melissa M. Karnaze & Cinnamon S. Bloss

  2. Center for Empathy and Technology, T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Melissa M. Karnaze & Cinnamon S. Bloss

Authors
  1. Melissa M. Karnaze
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  2. Cinnamon S. Bloss
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Contributions

M.M.K. performed the investigation, and wrote the original draft. C.S.B. acquired funding to support the writing of this Comment. Both authors conceptualized the Comment, and contributed to reviewing and editing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Melissa M. Karnaze.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Karnaze, M.M., Bloss, C.S. Six reasons to study emotional support from conversational artificial intelligence. Nat Hum Behav (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-026-02412-9

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