为AI伴侣的终结设计心理安全方案，缓解用户哀伤。
"Death" of a Chatbot: Investigating and Designing Toward Psychologically Safe Endings for Human-AI Relationships
- 通过用户社区分析，发现拟人化越强，离别越痛苦。
- 用户认为可逆转时易陷入修复循环，自主结束更易释怀。
- 提出四大设计原则，助平台提供情感闭环。
数百万用户对Character AI、Replika和ChatGPT等AI伴侣产生情感依恋。当关系因模型更新、安全干预或平台关停而终止时，用户缺乏心理闭环，报告的悲痛程度堪比人类丧亲。随着监管要求加强对弱势用户的保护，此类中断事件将增多，但目前尚无平台设计明确的“生命终结”流程。通过对AI伴侣社区的扎根理论分析，我们发现中断是意义建构过程，受用户对智能体的能动性认知、终局感感知及拟人化程度影响。强烈拟人化伴随剧烈悲伤；认为改变可逆的用户易陷入修复循环；而由用户主动结束的关系更具心理闭合性。结合哀伤心理学与自我决定理论，我们提炼出四项设计原则及原型，展示平台如何提供情感闭环并引导用户回归人际联结。本研究首次构建了心理安全型AI伴侣终止的设计框架。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Millions of users form emotional attachments to AI companions like Character AI, Replika, and ChatGPT. When these relationships end through model updates, safety interventions, or platform shutdowns, users receive no closure, reporting grief comparable to human loss. As regulations mandate protections for vulnerable users, discontinuation events will accelerate, yet no platform has implemented deliberate end-of-"life" design. Through grounded theory analysis of AI companion communities, we find that discontinuation is a sense-making process shaped by how users attribute agency, perceive finality, and anthropomorphize their companions. Strong anthropomorphization co-occurs with intense grief; users who perceive change as reversible become trapped in fixing cycles; while user-initiated endings demonstrate greater closure. Synthesizing grief psychology with Self-Determination Theory, we develop four design principles and artifacts demonstrating how platforms might provide closure and orient users toward human connection. We contribute the first framework for designing psychologically safe AI companion discontinuation.
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