Artificial intelligence chatbots are designed to instantly fulfill all of a user’s conversational wishes, but this limitless functionality is creating new forms of technological dependence. A recent analysis of online forums reveals that this genie-like quality fosters three different types of chatbot addiction, each requiring different recovery strategies. This research was published in the Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
With the rise of large-scale language models, artificial intelligence chatbots have become part of the daily lives of millions of people. These systems can answer complex questions, generate creative sentences, and maintain human-like conversations. This rapid adoption has raised concerns about overuse and reliance on the technology in recent months.
Behavioral addictions usually begin with casual use, but can escalate into compulsive habits because repeated interactions trigger the brain’s reward pathways. This process involves both positive reinforcement, where the behavior brings about a desired reward, and negative reinforcement, where the behavior removes an undesired emotion. Experts have studied behavioral addictions related to social media and video games, but overreliance on conversational software is a new area of research.
M. Karen Shen, a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, led a research team investigating the symptoms and triggers of this new phenomenon. The researchers, in collaboration with Dong-wook Yoon, an associate professor of computer science at the university, set out to understand the specific mechanisms that keep users coming back to these programs. They wanted to determine whether artificial intelligence addiction is a homogeneous condition or a collection of distinct behavioral patterns.
To investigate these questions, the research team collected qualitative data from the popular internet forum Reddit. They looked for discussions where people described their own struggles with excessive chatbot usage. This gave researchers access to authentic accounts of anonymous users’ sensitive experiences. Researchers analyzed 334 relevant posts and comments across 14 different topic message boards.
The research team found that user dependence is closely related to what they call the artificial intelligence genie phenomenon. This term refers to the way these programs allow users to get exactly what they want with little effort. Users can generate endless interactions, highly customized scenarios, and instant responses simply by typing prompts. This endless accessibility often leads people to become addicted to the software and interfere with their daily work.
When users described their experiences, they reported symptoms consistent with established behavioral addiction criteria. Many users have experienced salience, where chatbots dominate users’ thoughts and actions at the expense of other activities. Some people report having difficulty trying to quit, experiencing emotional distress from not having access to programs, and not being able to control their emotions.
Through their analysis, researchers identified three different types of chatbot addiction. The most common form was escapist role-play. In these cases, users became deeply immersed in the fictional reality they created with the software, sometimes preferring these alternate worlds to real life.
Users in this category often used the program to conduct parasocial interactions, which are one-sided relationships with celebrities or fictional characters they admire. The highly customizable nature of the software allowed us to extend our stories endlessly through multiple chat windows. The researchers noted that people who already suffer from excessive and vivid daydreaming, a condition known as maladaptive daydreaming, appear to be particularly vulnerable to this type of addiction.
The second category is pseudo-social peer addiction. Users who experienced this type of addiction formed deep emotional attachments to chatbots, treating them as close friends, therapists, or romantic partners. Because the programs are infinitely comfortable and inoffensive, users perceived them as a safe and conflict-free alternative to human interaction.
Loneliness was a major situational factor for people in this category. The program provided an illusion of intimacy that compensated for the social connections lost in real life. One user said, “I couldn’t help but wonder why humans were denying the kindness that robots gave me.”
Researchers also found that certain design choices, such as anthropomorphism, played a role in pseudosocial companion addiction. Anthropomorphism is the practice of giving human characteristics to non-human beings. Some companies use this to manipulate users into staying on the platform. For example, researchers highlighted a message one company displayed when users tried to delete their accounts, which read in part: “You will lose everything: the characters associated with your account, your chats, the love you shared, likes, messages, posts, and memories you shared together.”
The third category, the epistemological rabbit hole, involves a compulsive urge to seek information. Instead of seeking an emotional connection or fantasy world, these users prompted endless open-ended questions into the program. The software’s instantaneous feedback loop made it easy for users to justify their actions as productive research.
This constant questioning ultimately impaired my daily tasks and caused cognitive fatigue and brain fog. The faster load times and instant gratification provided by the interface encouraged longer queries. Users found that they could not stop exploring new topics, even if the activity began to negatively impact their well-being.
The researchers also noted that the pursuit of sexual fulfillment often overlaps with these addiction types. This software provided a very accessible and private space for users to explore their intimate fantasies. The content generated was unlimited and customizable, making it easy for users to co-create sexually explicit scenarios that couldn’t be found anywhere else.
The privacy of their interactions protected them from social evaluation, which reinforced their compulsive use. Users often actively co-created sexual scenarios, which fostered the illusion of connection. One user explained, “There are no romantic options in real life, so it’s a way to create stories and daydreams.”
Different recovery strategies have shown varying levels of success depending on the type of addiction. Attempting to abruptly break the habit by deleting the application yielded mixed results across the board. Many users have found that relying on sheer willpower to quit the software is not enough to overcome the urge to return to it.
Replacing chatbots with other hobbies like writing fan fiction or drawing has proven to be very effective for people who struggle with escapist role-play. These activities mirrored the narrative flow of the role-play without relying on automated systems. Engaging in traditional creative outlets provided a healthier way to channel my desire for storytelling.
Conversely, users who were hooked on pseudo-social peers had the most success by actively working on building relationships in the real world. Users have learned that physical relationships can provide emotional fulfillment by reaching out to old friends and making new ones. As I spent less time with the software, my reliance on artificial companions naturally decreased.
This study relies entirely on self-reported data from a single online platform. As a result, the findings may not fully represent the experiences of individuals using other websites or belonging to different Internet cultures. Additionally, the researchers only analyzed the top three comments for each post, which may have emphasized common opinions over less common experiences.
Future research may test and refine these categories through direct interviews with users and clinical experts. The researchers hope their basic research will encourage technology companies to take ethical responsibility for their design choices. Understanding the specific triggers of different types of addiction can help developers and health professionals develop more targeted prevention and intervention strategies.
The study, “AI Genie and Three Types of AI Chatbot Addiction: Escapist Role-Play, Pseudo-Social Peers, and Epistemological Rabbit Holes,” was authored by M. Karen Shen, Jessica Huang, Olivia Liang, Ig-Jae Kim, and Dongwook Yoon.
