REPLIKA-EFFECT: AI-FRIEND IN USERS’ MIND. RATING, ENGAGEMENT, ANTHROPOMORPHIZATION

Replika is an AI chatbot programmed to recognize and respond to human emotions, enabling users to develop a personal connection with their virtual avatar. The state of the research shows that the user can establish and engage emotional ties with Conversational Agents, in some cases very similar to friendship with other human beings. Our research aims to broaden knowledge about AI-human friendship in terms of approval, engagement and Anthropomorphization through the analysis of the content and length of 1236 comments left by users to describe their digital experience with Replika. The main results show that users’ Review Rating is not an effective predictor of their Engagement. Instead, self-disclosure (length of the comments) is a predictor of engagement and Anthropomorphization; a higher number of words are used to describe the digital experience when the chatbot is perceived as a real human being with anthropomorphic personality and human characteristics. The negative Engagement seems a protective factor against the tendency to humanize AI.