Emotional Attachment: A Study on Emotional Design Strategies in Companion AI Products

Abstract: With the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, Companion AI products have reshaped the traditional human-computer interaction paradigm by virtue of sophisticated Emotional Design, forging in-depth emotional bonds with users and driving the evolution of human-machine relations toward complex intimate connections. However, the escalating anthropomorphism of AI has given rise to a prominent emotional dependence among a subset of users, which further triggers the paradox of "companionship-alienation": these products seemingly offer emotional consolation, yet in reality, they may exacerbate users' loneliness and erode their willingness and ability to engage in real-world social interactions. Against this backdrop, this study aims to systematically dissect this phenomenon and explore rational and sustainable emotional design strategies for companion AI products. This research adopts a case study approach as the core methodology, first clarifying the definition of Companion AI products — referring to AI robots or virtual dialogue agents with a certain level of intelligence, autonomy and social skills that can establish and maintain long-term relationships with users. Such products are capable of capturing both verbal content and non-verbal cues such as tone and emotion, and retain user preferences and personal historical information through memory functions to achieve personalized and coherent interaction. Based on functional characteristics and target user groups, the study categorizes current companion AI software products into four types: intelligent assistant type, role-playing dialogue partner type, AI social community type and emotional support tool type, each catering to users' instrumental needs, self-expression needs, social belonging needs and mental health needs respectively, forming a complementary product matrix. The research also traces the evolutionary trajectory of AI from a mere tool to an emotional partner, revealing that the development of emotional computing, natural language processing and speech recognition technologies has laid a technical foundation for the emotional turn of AI, while the surging social demand for emotional companionship — driven by the high prevalence of loneliness among young people, compressed social time of workplace groups and the weakening of traditional emotional bonds — has become the core impetus for