# Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement of Machine Companionship: A Scoping Review

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18119 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.18119/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 135 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [The Dark Side of AI Companionship: A Taxonomy of Harmful Algorithmic Behaviors in Human-AI Relationships](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.20130/) (2024)
- [AI Companions Reduce Loneliness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19096/) (2024)
- [Chatbots as social companions: How people perceive consciousness, human likeness, and social health benefits in machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10599/) (2023)
- [User-Driven Value Alignment: Understanding Users' Perceptions and Strategies for Addressing Biased and Discriminatory Statements in AI Companions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00862/) (2024)
- [Relational Norms for Human-AI Cooperation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12102/) (2025)
- [Interrogating AI: Characterizing Emergent Playful Interactions with ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08405/) (2024)
- [The Real Her? Exploring Whether Young Adults Accept Human-AI Love](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.03067/) (2025)
- [Understanding Human-Chatbot Romance: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Romantic Fantasy and Other Interpersonal Characteristics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00195/) (2025)
- [Theory of Robot Communication: II. Befriending a Robot over Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04406/) (2018)
- [Towards Operationalizing Social Bonding in Human-Robot Dyads](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11386/) (2023)
- [Learning from a Generative AI Predecessor -- The Many Motivations for Interacting with Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02978/) (2023)
- [10 Questions to Fall in Love with ChatGPT: An Experimental Study on Interpersonal Closeness with Large Language Models (LLMs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13860/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Lexical Indicators of Mind Perception in Human-AI Companionship](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.04105/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The notion of machine companions has long been embedded in social-technological imaginaries. Recent advances in AI have moved those media musings into believable sociality manifested in interfaces, robotic bodies, and devices. Those machines are often referred to colloquially as "companions" yet there is little careful engagement of machine companionship (MC) as a formal concept or measured variable. This PRISMA-guided scoping review systematically samples, surveys, and synthesizes current scholarly works on MC (N = 71; 2017-2025), to that end. Works varied widely in considerations of MC according to guiding theories, dimensions of a-priori specified properties (subjectively positive, sustained over time, co-active, autotelic), and in measured concepts (with more than 50 distinct measured variables). WE ultimately offer a literature-guided definition of MC as an autotelic, coordinated connection between human and machine that unfolds over time and is subjectively positive.