Cogley, Ellie, Matthews, Timothy and Finnegan, Daniel  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1169-2842
“Am I now masking, even with a bot?”: Pseudo-social bonding between autistic adults and LLMs.
Presented at: BritCHI 2026,
London, UK,
1 -3 November 2026.
Proceedings of BRITCHI 26 2026.
BCS Learning and Development Ltd.,
pp. 435-444.
10.14236/ewic/BRITCHI26.46
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Abstract
Pseudo-social bonding — the formation of one-sided, socially meaningful bonds with entities that cannot meaningfully reciprocate them — is increasingly shaped by AI chatbots’ capacity to simulate social reciprocity in ways that convincingly mirror human interaction. Autistic adults exhibit anthropomorphic tendencies more frequently and into adulthood than non-autistic individuals. This raises questions about how such tendencies shape the pseudo-social bonds autistic adults form with AI chatbots, and the associated risks of harm. We present a seven-day diary study exploring pseudo-social bonding among 25 autistic and allistic adults interacting daily with a custom chatbot, using thematic analysis of open-ended diary and exit survey responses. Bonding patterns differed between groups, though relational, moral treatment of the chatbot itself was broadly shared. We identify several autism-specific interaction patterns, including masking, infodumping, and variation in trust and forgiveness towards the chatbot, and discuss implications for future chatbot design.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item - published (Poster) |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Computational & Mathematical Sciences Schools > Computer Science & Informatics |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science |
| Publisher: | BCS Learning and Development Ltd. |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 11 November 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 1 August 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Nov 2026 11:49 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190847 |
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