AI chatbots such as ChatGPT offer rapid, personalized, and supportive responses that may shape users’ expectations of communication. This study explores how Generation Z users perceive the social presence of ChatGPT and how their experiences relate to their preferences for interacting with AI chatbots and other people. The study is informed by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the Media Equation, and Social Presence Theory. It focuses on users’ perceptions of chatbot responses, communication comfort, self-disclosure, expectations of interaction, and comparisons between AI-mediated and human communication. It also considers how preferences may vary according to the topic and purpose of an interaction, including whether users turn to AI to discuss particular issues while valuing human relationships that involve reciprocity and personal closeness. The study combines a review of relevant literature with interviews with ChatGPT users. By examining users’ accounts in relation to these theoretical frameworks, the study aims to clarify how perceived AI social presence relates to interpersonal communication preferences and to contribute to research on human–technology communication.
Keywords
AI chatbots, ChatGPT, interpersonal communication, social presence, communication preferences, Generation Z