AI Companion and Parasocial Systems as Void Objects: Emotional Opacity, Adaptive Intimacy, and Dependency Harm — A Within-Domain Spearman Convergence

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) 2026 Preprint Open access

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Authors: Anthony W. Eckert
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18826450
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Eleven AI companion and parasocial platforms (Replika, Character.AI, Anima, Woebot, and others) scored on O (RLHF opacity, persona authenticity disclosure), R (emotional mirroring depth, intimacy escalation), and C (memory lock-in, relationship sunk costs). Spearman ρ between Void Index and documented dependency harm from JMIR literature, FTC enforcement, and Garcia v. Character Technologies. Empirical convergence companion to Paper 15. EU AI Act Annex III §5.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Ethics and Social Impacts of AI Digitalization Law and Regulation Social Robot Interaction and HRI

Publication details

Journal / source
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Publication date
1 March 2026
Language
EN
Document type
Preprint