OpenAI has released a pair of new studies in partnership with MIT Media Lap on how using ChatGPT affects people’s emotional well-being. The studies explore how users interact emotionally with AI chat platforms like ChatGPT. Through analysis of real-world usage data and a controlled experiment, the researchers investigated the connection between using these platforms and users' emotional well-being, specifically focusing on loneliness, socialisation, emotional dependence, and problematic use. The findings indicate that high-intensity usage is linked to markers of emotional dependence and lower socialisation. Notably, a small subset of users exhibit frequent affective cues in their conversations. The study also explores the impact of voice modality and different conversation tasks on user experience and well-being outcomes, highlighting the complexities of socioaffective alignment in AI interactions.

Sources:
- https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/21/1113635/openai-has-released-its-first-research-into-how-using-chatgpt-affects-peoples-emotional-wellbeing/

- https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/

- https://cdn.openai.com/papers/15987609-5f71-433c-9972-e91131f399a1/openai-affective-use-study.pdf