Abstract
People want to “feel heard” to perceive that they are understood, validated, and valued. Can AI serve the deeply human function of making others feel heard? Our research addresses two fundamental issues: Can AI generate responses that make human recipients feel heard, and how do human recipients react when they believe the response comes from AI? We conducted an experiment and a follow-up study to disentangle the effects of actual source of a message and the presumed source. We found that AI-generated messages made recipients feel more heard than human-generated messages and that AI was better at detecting emotions. However, recipients felt less heard when they realized that a message came from AI (vs. human). Finally, in a follow-up study where the responses were rated by third-party raters, we found that compared with humans, AI demonstrated superior discipline in offering emotional support, a crucial element in making individuals feel heard, while avoiding excessive practical suggestions, which may be less effective in achieving this goal. Our research underscores the potential and limitations of AI in meeting human psychological needs. These findings suggest that while AI demonstrates enhanced capabilities to provide emotional support, the devaluation of AI responses poses a key challenge for effectively leveraging AI’s capabilities.
Significance
As AI becomes more embedded in daily life, understanding its potential and limitations in meeting human psychological needs becomes more pertinent. Our research explores the fundamental human desire to “feel heard.” It reveals that while AI can generate responses that make people feel heard, individuals feel more heard when they believe a response comes from a fellow human. These findings highlight the potential of AI to augment human capacity for understanding and communication while also raising important conceptual questions about the meaning of being heard, as well as practical questions about how to best to leverage AI’s capabilities to support greater human flourishing.
Here are some thoughts.
This study explores whether people can feel heard by AI, examining recipients' perspectives and related perceptions and emotions after receiving a response from AI or a human. It was hypothesized that AI would be better than humans at detecting and understanding emotions. However, the researchers also expected that people would feel less heard by AI due to the perception that AI lacks a mind and cannot think or feel, and because of negative attitudes towards AI.
The study found that AI was statistically significantly better at eliciting feelings of being heard, with recipients reporting feeling more heard, perceiving the response to be more accurate, feeling more understood by the responder, and feeling more connected to the responder when the response was generated by AI. However, recipients reported more positive reactions when they believed the response came from a human, demonstrating a devaluation of AI-generated responses.
The researchers conclude that AI can make people feel heard, but this is influenced both by the quality of the response and the perception of the responder. They suggest that as people encounter and use AI more, they may feel more heard by AI, but feelings of connection may still depend on perceiving AI as having a mind.
