Research on Ethical Boundaries and Emotional Responsibility of AI Companion Products from the Perspective of Human-Machine Communication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/qb29ff16Keywords:
Human-Machine Communication, AI Companion Products, Ethical Boundaries, Emotional Responsibility, Emotional DependencyAbstract
With the rapid iteration of emotional computing and natural language processing technologies, AI companion products have gradually penetrated into daily life, reconstructing the pattern of human-machine communication and forming a new type of emotional interaction relationship between humans and machines. From the perspective of human-machine communication, this paper explores the ethical boundaries and emotional responsibilities of AI companion products, which are core issues in the process of their popularization. By using literature research, data analysis and case study methods, this paper sorts out the evolution of human-machine communication in the context of AI companions, identifies the ethical dilemmas such as data privacy leakage, emotional dependency alienation and false emotional expression faced by AI companion products, and quantifies the impact of these dilemmas through relevant data. The research finds that 51% of users regard AI companions as friends or romantic partners, and 0.15% of weekly active users of AI companion platforms have mentioned suicide thoughts or plans, which indicates that the blurred ethical boundaries of AI companion products may bring potential psychological risks to users. On this basis, this paper clarifies the emotional responsibility connotation of AI companion products from three dimensions: product design, operation and supervision, and puts forward targeted ethical norms and responsibility fulfillment paths. The research enriches the theoretical system of human-machine communication, and provides practical reference for the healthy development of AI companion industry and the standardized construction of human-machine emotional interaction.
Downloads
References
[1] Ding, X., Zhang, G., Xie, C., & Yu, F. (2025). Artificial Companions: Ethical Implications and Human-Machine Relationships in the Age of Intelligent Electronic Pets. In Digital Development (pp. 135–162). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032568978-9.
[2] Murtarelli, G., Gregory, A., & Romenti, S. (2021). A conversation-based perspective for shaping ethical human–machine interactions: The particular challenge of chatbots. Journal of Business Research, 129, 927–935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.03.039.
[3] Kunz, W. H., Sajtos, L., & Flavián, C. (2025). Beyond replacement: human-machine collaboration in the age of AI. Journal of Service Management, 36(4), 477–494. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-02-2024-0128.
[4] Guzman, A. L. (2020). Ontological boundaries between humans and computers and the implications for human-machine communication. Human-Machine Communication, 1, 37–54. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.1.3.
[5] Liang, L., & Lu, X. (2025). Returning from virtual to reality: the motivation, challenges, and governance of building human–machine emotional relationships. AI and Ethics, 5(5), 5439–5452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-025-00987-6.
[6] Andersson, M. (2025). Companionship in code: AI’s role in the future of human connection. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05023-9.
[7] Boine, C. (2023). Emotional attachment to AI companions and European law.
[8] Strasser, A. (2022). Distributed responsibility in human–machine interactions. AI and Ethics, 2(3), 523–532. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-022-00198-2.
[9] Ding, X., Zhang, G., Xie, C., & Yu, F. (2025). Artificial Companions. In Digital Development: Technology, Ethics and Governance. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032568978-ch7.
[10] Ge, L., & Hu, T. (2025). Gamifying intimacy: AI-driven affective engagement and human-virtual human relationships. Media, Culture & Society, 47(6), 1265–1278. https://doi.org/10. 1177/ 01634437 251338699.
[11] Xin, P. (2025). Ethical and Philosophical Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction in the Design of Intelligent Products: A Comprehensive Analysis. Cultura: International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, 22(1).
[12] Du, H. (2024, December). Ethical issues of artificial intelligence: Exploring legal responsibility, communication, and moral challenges. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 3194, No. 1, p. 050029). AIP Publishing LLC. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0211387.
[13] Muldoon, J., & Parke, J. J. (2025). Cruel companionship: How AI companions exploit loneliness and commodify intimacy. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251395192.
[14] Miao, F. (2026). The anthropomorphization of AI and the concept of Buddhist compassion in human-machine interaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1583565. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/ fpsyg. 2025. 1583565.
[15] Minina Jeunemaître, A., Masè, S., & Smith, J. (2025). AI lovers, friends and partners: consumer imagination work in AI humanization. Consumption Markets & Culture, 1–21. https:// doi. org/ 10.1080/10253866.2025.2478911.
[16] Manoli, A., Pauketat, J. V., Ladak, A., Noh, H., Hwang, A. H. C., & Anthis, J. R. (2026, April). Digital Companionship: Overlapping Uses of AI Companions and AI Assistants. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–25).
[17] Kumar, S., Choudhury, S., Chaurasia, A., & Poudyal, A. (2026). Acceptance of AI Companion Animals: An Investigation on the Interaction Between Humans and Artificial Intelligence-Based Companion Animals. Topoi, 1–16.
[18] Edwards, A. P., & Etzrodt, K. (2025). Being and becoming in human-machine communication: Core commitments and conceptual foundations of a trans-ontological field. Human-Machine Communication, 10(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.10.1.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Education and Educational Research

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.









