Digital companionship: The interplay of conversational AI, loneliness, social anxiety, and quality of life among young adults

This study examines the relationship between Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI) usage and psychological outcomes-social anxiety, loneliness, and quality of life (QOL)-among young adults in India (N = 233). Correlational analyses showed that CAI usage was non-significantly associated with lower social anxiety (r = -0.12) and loneliness (r = -0.18) and was modestly but non-significantly linked to higher Quality of Life (QoL) (r = 0.23-0.33 across domains). Mediation analysis suggested an indirect association between CAI usability and social anxiety through loneliness, suggesting full mediation. Interestingly, greater loneliness was positively associated with self-reported CAI usage, while higher usage was concurrently associated with lower loneliness highlighting a complex reciprocal pattern. As the data are cross-sectional, these links are exploratory and non-causal. Although the observed effects were small and not statistically significant in most cases, the findings point to the potential of empathetic Artificial Intelligence tools as supplementary support for emotional well-being in digitally connected youth.