How Does Turning to AI for Companionship Predict Loneliness and Vice Versa?

“Taken together, these findings provide initial evidence that being lonely may spur people to seek companionship through chatbots but that such use may, over time, exacerbate feelings of loneliness. We urge caution, however, in drawing strong conclusions given the exploratory nature of our analyses.”Quoted verbatim from the abstract.