Mind & Society: is AI making us lonely?
In 2025, MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the heaviest chatbot users reported more loneliness and dependence. What the studies show, and what they don't.
In 2025, MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the heaviest chatbot users reported more loneliness and dependence. What the studies show, and what they don't.
· Captions, from MIT Media Lab, Fortune, Engadget
Noir illustrations drawn in code by AI Broadsheet; chat lines on screen are illustrative. Music: “Journey To The Interweb” by Aemyn (CC0, Freesound); sounds: Freesound (CC0).
What the video says
Millions of people talk to chatbots every day. Is it making us lonely? In March 2025, MIT Media Lab and OpenAI published two studies on how chatbot use affects how people feel. MIT followed about a thousand people using ChatGPT for four weeks.
OpenAI analysed nearly 40 million conversations. The heaviest daily users reported more loneliness, more emotional dependence, and less time with other people. But the studies do not show that chatbots cause loneliness. Lonely people may simply reach for them more.
They measured loneliness, not depression, over just a month, and had not been peer reviewed. If a chatbot is your main conversation of the day, that is worth noticing. Next: why so many people say no to AI.
Sources
Noir illustrations drawn in code by AI Broadsheet; chat lines on screen are illustrative. Music: “Journey To The Interweb” by Aemyn (CC0, Freesound); sounds: Freesound (CC0). Report a mistake