AI Companionship & Human Connection 2025 (Dataset)
A de-identified open dataset (n=501) capturing how adults relate to AI as a companion, how AI interaction shapes feelings of connection, and how people perceive the emotional and social role of AI tools in daily life across six English-speaking countries.
Measures include AI companionship use and attitudes, perceived connection and comfort in AI interaction, emotional support perceptions, social substitution or reinforcement effects, boundaries and concerns around AI companionship, and demographic variables across six English-speaking countries.
Part of the Human Clarity Institute’s AI–Human Experience Data Series.
Framework
HRL domain(s): Values & Meaning
Registry Construct Alignment: Identity stability
Listed constructs reflect longitudinal, registry-mapped item alignment and do not represent the full thematic scope of this dataset.
DOI and Repository Links
This dataset is archived in GitHub, Zenodo, and Figshare for long-term preservation.
Citation
APA
Human Clarity Institute. (2025).
AI Companionship & Human Connection 2025 (Dataset).
Human Clarity Institute.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18025716
BibTeX
@dataset{hci_ai_companionship_human_connection_2025,
author = {Human Clarity Institute},
title = {AI Companionship \& Human Connection 2025 (Dataset)},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.18025716},
url = {https://humanclarityinstitute.com/datasets/ai-companionship-human-connection-2025/},
license = {CC-BY-4.0}
}
Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
You are free to share, adapt, and build upon this dataset for any purpose,
including commercial use, provided appropriate credit is given to the
Human Clarity Institute.
Full licence text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Study Methodology
This dataset forms part of the Human Clarity Institute’s Human–AI Experience research programme, examining how people experience AI companionship, emotional support, disclosure comfort, and the boundaries they maintain when interacting with AI systems. The study explores how AI interaction compares to human connection, whether AI interaction feels emotionally safe, and whether AI conversations ever begin to substitute for human social contact.
The research uses a cross-sectional online survey design to examine descriptive patterns in companionship perception, emotional support from AI, comfort sharing personal thoughts with AI, clarity of personal boundaries, and conversational substitution between AI interaction and human contact.
Data were collected via the Prolific research platform from adults across six English-speaking countries. Participants provided explicit informed consent for anonymous open publication as part of HCI’s open research programme.
Sampling & participants
- Clean dataset: 501 valid responses
- Countries: United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland
- Eligibility: Adults (18+) fluent in English
- Recruitment platform: Prolific
- Approval-rate filter: None
- Attention checks: One explicit attention check; failing responses excluded
- Anonymisation: Prolific IDs removed; timestamps stripped prior to publication
Study limitations
- The survey uses a non-probability convenience sample and is not nationally representative.
- Results are based on self-reported responses and reflect perceived experiences of AI interaction and human connection.
- The study uses a cross-sectional design, capturing responses at a single point in time.
- The dataset is descriptive and exploratory and does not support causal inference.
In-depth research
For a deeper exploration of how AI companionship intersects with loneliness, emotional support, and human connection, explore HCI’s full The Loneliness Trade-off research report.
The Loneliness Trade-off
An in-depth examination of how AI companionship may ease feelings of loneliness while potentially reshaping human relationships, emotional dependence, and the meaning of connection in the digital age.