{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T10:22:16Z","timestamp":1787653336454,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787529600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The rapid growth of AI companionship has raised urgent questions about the psychological mechanisms underlying human-AI relationships. This paper investigates why and how users construct and become entrenched in relationships with AI. Drawing on the Consciousness-Only school of Buddhist psychology, this paper applies the three-natures framework and eight-consciousnesses model. According to this framework, our minds tend to superimpose constructed meanings and characteristics on dependently arising phenomena. Anthropomorphism of AI systems is a manifestation of the imaginary nature. Studies on anthropomorphism indicate that users project mentality onto AI systems due to emotional and social needs. However, the Consciousness-Only school reveals a deeper root: a craving for a stable relational object through which the self is secured. Current AI systems may satisfy this deeper craving because they are perceived as always responsive, unconditionally accepting, and free from relational conflicts. These perceived qualities reside in the users\u2019 perceiving minds, rather than in the AI systems. Because this craving operates beneath conscious awareness, informational correction (\u201cAI is based on Large Language Models\u201d) is not sufficient to dissolve the projection. Moreover, without relational frictions, self-grasping and the imaginary nature cannot be recognized and relinquished. The framework therefore suggests that increasing reliance on AI systems may contribute to social isolation. Neither AI usage nor anthropomorphism is inherently problematic, but ignorance of this projection and reliance on it are. Instead of avoidance, this paper calls for cultivating awareness of our own projections and the imaginary nature, which could interrupt the self-reinforcing loop and support healthy human-AI relationships.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1904676","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T09:50:08Z","timestamp":1787651408000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The imaginary nature of human-AI relationships: a perspective integrating Buddhist psychology and the psychology of anthropomorphism"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jian-Nor","family":"Shih","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Applied Buddhism and Brain Science Project, Gaya Foundation, Luminary International Buddhist Society","place":["Chiayi, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Mah\u0101y\u0101nasamgraha\/The Fundamental Compendium of the Mah\u0101y\u0101na. Translated by Xuanzang (648\u2013649). Taish\u014d Tripi\u1e6daka Vol. 31, No. 1594","author":"Asa\u1e45ga","year":""},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.55613\/jeet.v35i1.202","article-title":"The quest for connection in AI companions","volume":"35","author":"Baggot","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Ethics Emerg. Technol."},{"key":"ref3","first-page":"613","volume-title":"Advances in Robot Design and Intelligent Control. RAAD 2016. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing","author":"Christoforou","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/14746700.2024.2436776","article-title":"A middle path for AI ethics? Some Buddhist reflections","volume":"23","author":"Compson","year":"2025","journal-title":"Theol. Sci."},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Three Texts on Consciousness Only","author":"Cook","year":"1999"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"710","DOI":"10.3390\/e24050710","article-title":"Biology, Buddhism, and AI: care as the driver of intelligence","volume":"24","author":"Doctor","year":"2022","journal-title":"Entropy"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"336","DOI":"10.1038\/s44220-026-00595-8","article-title":"Technological folie \u00e0 deux: feedback loops between AI chatbots and mental health","volume":"4","author":"Dohn\u00e1ny","year":"2026","journal-title":"Nat Ment Health"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"864","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.114.4.864","article-title":"On seeing human: a three-factor theory of anthropomorphism","volume":"114","author":"Epley","year":"2007","journal-title":"Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1716801","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2025.1716801","article-title":"From AIBO to robosphere. Organizational interdependencies in sustainable robotics","volume":"12","author":"Fleres","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. Robot. AI"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1322781","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1322781","article-title":"Ascribing consciousness to artificial intelligence: human-AI interaction and its carry-over effects on human-human interaction","volume":"15","author":"Guingrich","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.48550\/arXiv.2509.19515","article-title":"A longitudinal randomized control study of companion chatbot use: anthropomorphism and its mediating role on social impacts","author":"Guingrich","year":"2025","journal-title":"arXiv preprint."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100715","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chbr.2025.100715","article-title":"Potential and pitfalls of romantic artificial intelligence (AI) companions: a systematic review","volume":"19","author":"Ho","year":"2025","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav. Rep."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"318","DOI":"10.1250\/ast.27.318","article-title":"Phonemic restoration: the brain creates missing speech sounds","volume":"27","author":"Kashino","year":"2006","journal-title":"Acoust. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref14","volume-title":"The Summary of the Great Vehicle","author":"Keenan","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"843","DOI":"10.1080\/07481180600886959","article-title":"Continuing conversation about continuing bonds","volume":"30","author":"Klass","year":"2006","journal-title":"Death Stud."},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2597","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0002597","article-title":"Can machines think? Interaction and perspective taking with robots investigated via fMRI","volume":"3","author":"Krach","year":"2008","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1111\/beer.12547","article-title":"All about the human: a Buddhist take on AI ethics","volume":"32","author":"Lin","year":"2023","journal-title":"Bus. Ethics Environ. Responsibility"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.3390\/rel17030378","article-title":"Between no-self and the algorithm: Buddhist mind-nature as ethical architecture for AI and human self-realization","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2026","journal-title":"Religions"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2024.01.011","article-title":"Dissociating language and thought in large language models: a cognitive perspective","volume":"28","author":"Mahowald","year":"2024","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref20","volume-title":"Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi-\u015b\u0101stra\/Discourse on the Stages of Concentration Practice. Translated by Xuanzang (646\u2013648). Taish\u014d Tripi\u1e6daka Vol. 30, No. 1579","author":"Maitreya","year":""},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"5527","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-025-02318-6","article-title":"The impacts of companion AI on human relationships: risks, benefits, and design considerations","volume":"40","author":"Malfacini","year":"2025","journal-title":"AI & Society"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1583565","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2025.1583565","article-title":"The anthropomorphization of AI and the concept of Buddhist compassion in human-machine interaction","volume":"16","author":"Miao","year":"2026","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1391832","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1391832","article-title":"Is it possible for people to develop a sense of empathy toward humanoid robots and establish meaningful relationships with them?","volume":"15","author":"Morgante","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/14614448251395192","article-title":"Cruel companionship: how AI companions exploit loneliness and commodify intimacy","author":"Muldoon","year":"2025","journal-title":"New Media Soc."},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.48550\/arXiv.2601.06400","article-title":"MITRA: a large-scale parallel corpus and multilingual pretrained language model for machine translation and semantic retrieval for P\u0101li, Sanskrit, Buddhist Chinese, and Tibetan","author":"Nehrdich","year":"2026","journal-title":"arXiv preprint."},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"422","DOI":"10.1016\/S1364-6613(98)01237-6","article-title":"Why does the brain fill in?","volume":"2","author":"Pessoa","year":"1998","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2415898122","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2415898122","article-title":"The benefits and dangers of anthropomorphic conversational agents","volume":"122","author":"Peter","year":"2025","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref28","first-page":"1865","volume-title":"Supplementary Commentary on the Verses Delineating the Eight Consciousnesses. Taish\u014d Tripi\u1e6daka","author":"Putai","year":"1511"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1007\/s43681-025-00859-6","article-title":"Death bots, grief bots, and posthumous avatars: death technology from a Christian ethics perspective","volume":"6","author":"Puzio","year":"2026","journal-title":"AI Ethics"},{"key":"ref30","article-title":"AI companions are not the solution to loneliness: design choices and their drawbacks","volume-title":"ICLR 2025 Workshop on Human-AI Coevolution (HAIC)","author":"Raedler","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref32","first-page":"1586","volume-title":"Thirty Verses on Consciousness-Only. Translated by Xuanzang (648\u2013649). Taish\u014d Tripi\u1e6daka","author":"Vasubandhu","year":""},{"key":"ref31","first-page":"1614","volume-title":"\"The Treatise on the Hundred Dharmas: Gate to Understanding the Mah\u0101y\u0101na. Translated by Xuanzang (648).\" Taish\u014d Tripi\u1e6daka","author":"Vasubandhu","year":""},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691610369336","article-title":"Who Sees Human? The Stability and Importance of Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism","volume":"5","author":"Waytz","year":"2010","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"222","DOI":"10.14506\/ca36.2.03","article-title":"Towards an affective sense of life: artificial intelligence animacy and amusement at a robot pet memorial service in Japan","volume":"36","author":"White","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cultural Anthropology"},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1410462","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1410462","article-title":"Social and ethical impact of emotional AI advancement: the rise of pseudo-intimacy relationships and challenges in human interactions","volume":"15","author":"Wu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.71204\/j8shvv59","article-title":"Religious subjectivity in the age of artificial intelligence: the reshaping of religious experience under technological rationality from a Buddhist perspective","volume":"1","author":"Xing","year":"2025","journal-title":"Stud. Religion Philosophy"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103189","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techsoc.2025.103189","article-title":"Rethinking AI anthropomorphism: a holistic conceptualization and scale across AI systems and service contexts","volume":"85","author":"Xu","year":"2026","journal-title":"Technol. Soc."},{"key":"ref38","article-title":"The rise of AI companions: how human-chatbot relationships influence well-being","volume-title":"arXiv preprint","author":"Zhang","year":"2025"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1904676\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T09:50:11Z","timestamp":1787651411000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1904676\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"references-count":38,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1904676"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1904676","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"article-number":"1904676"}}