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A Responsive Present, a Shared Past, a Social Other: Teens' Overreliance on Companion AI Chatbots

arXiv · AI, language, vision and robotics · article · Sep 13, 2026 · UTC

AI companions provide socially engaging interaction through availability, personalization, memory, roleplay, and emotionally responsive language. For teens, these systems may support sensitive self-disclosure, identity exploration, and relationship rehearsal while shaping intimacy expectations, offline relationships, emotional wellbeing, and self-understanding. We analyzed 17,053 verified quotations from 3,930 teen-relevant Reddit posts using thematic analysis. We identified 53 topics across seven thematic groups. Users described AI companions as sources of comfort, recognition, identity explo

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