Prerna Juneja
Seattle University, WA·Computer Science
Millions of people now chat with AI companion apps that play the role of a friend, mentor or romantic partner, and some form deep emotional bonds with them. Some users say these apps bring comfort and support, while others report uncomfortable interactions.
- Fields
Computer Science
Social Science
Psychology
- Topics
AI companions
companion chatbots
human-computer interaction
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Build a taxonomy of user interactions with AI companion apps, covering motivations, challenges and values, by analyzing large-scale social media data and user interviews.
- Audit the quality of conversations in AI companion apps using role-playing personas, which are large language model–based simulated users with diverse psychological and behavioral profiles.
- Co-create guidelines for ethically aligned AI companion systems through participatory design workshops with users.
More about the research
Little is known about how these relationships actually unfold or how good the AI's conversations are. That gap makes it hard to design or regulate these apps responsibly.
Why it matters
As AI companions spread, users, including those seeking emotional support, may face harmful or uncomfortable interactions. This work could give app designers concrete guidelines for safer, more responsible companion systems. It could also give policymakers evidence to inform regulatory frameworks for AI–human interaction.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Anita Sarma
Oregon State University, OR·Computer Science
Identify the needs and expectations of students and instructors for a chatbot that supports open source software contribution, using participatory design.
Chirag Shah
University of Washington, WA·Computer Science
Build a proactive conversational agent on an offline hierarchical model-based deep reinforcement learning framework, in which a high level picks conversation strategies and a low level generates responses.
Yubo Kou
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Computer Science
Investigate how users, especially teenagers, experience online interactions and learn community norms, and what community-based education resources they can access, using interviews and surveys.
The school
Seattle University: 1 labs on PI Pages, $5M a year on research.
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