{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T21:21:55Z","timestamp":1792790515059,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784073600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Beijing Genertec Aerospace Hospital Research Program","award":["2024-QSYN-001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024-QSYN-001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Artif. Intell."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Large language models have evolved from laboratory demonstrations into mass-market companion-style conversational agents that many users treat as social partners. As these systems produce increasingly human-like conversational behavior, users may attribute mind, form affective bonds, disclose sensitive information, and rely on agents for emotional support, creating both potential benefits and psychosocial risks.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We conducted a PRISMA-ScR-informed scoping review of socioaffective human\u2013artificial intelligence interaction research published or posted from 2016 to 15 January 2026. Eligible sources addressed companion-style conversational agents and adjacent therapeutic, assistant-first, or governance sources. Evidence was stratified by system type and calibrated as stronger empirical support, moderate support, preliminary support, or proposed\/normative synthesis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The final evidence map included 58 sources. We synthesized mechanisms that make agents feel social, including anthropomorphism, social presence, mind perception, self-disclosure, parasocial attachment, and socioaffective alignment. Therapeutic chatbot studies provided the strongest evidence for short-term symptom reduction in selected contexts, whereas evidence for sustained loneliness reduction in open-domain companion systems remained emerging. Reported and hypothesized risks included dependency-like use, displacement of human interaction, maladaptive validation or sycophancy, persuasive manipulation, privacy harms, and risks to minors or vulnerable users.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We propose an integrative pathway linking model capabilities and product design cues to relational outcomes and outline a companion-specific relational safety stack as a synthesis-based evaluation agenda rather than a validated regulatory or clinical standard. The review identifies measurement priorities for evaluating companion agents and governance priorities for managing psychosocial impact as these systems scale.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/frai.2026.1810097","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T06:04:27Z","timestamp":1784095467000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Human-like conversational agents as social partners: a scoping review of socioaffective mechanisms, well-being outcomes, risks and governance in the post-Turing era"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Qian","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Genertec Aerospace Hospital","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University","place":["Shijiazhuang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Han","family":"Geng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Arts, Monash University","place":["Caulfield East, VIC, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xin","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Transplantation Immunology, National Center for Child Health and Development","place":["Tokyo, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Di","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Beijing Genertec Aerospace Hospital","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongmei","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Practice, The General Hospital of the People\u2019s Liberation Army","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yongxin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thoracic Surgery, Beijing Genertec Aerospace Hospital","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"School of Automation and Intelligent Systems, Beijing Jiaotong University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jin","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medical Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e16021","DOI":"10.2196\/16021","article-title":"Effectiveness and safety of using chatbots to improve mental health: systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"22","author":"Abd-Alrazaq","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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