TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the association between use of conversational artificial intelligence and social capital
T2 - Survey evidence from Hong Kong
AU - Ng, Yu-Leung
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the Tier 2 Start-up Grant of Hong Kong Baptist University (No.: RC-SGT2/19-20/COMM/001).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - Media use–social capital research has studied traditional and social media use and associated social capital. Still, little is known about whether social capital would be cultivated or damaged by the use of conversational artificial intelligence (AI). This study explores the associations between conversational AI use and various measures of social capital using a territory-wide survey of an online representative sample in Hong Kong (n = 1022). The results showed that conversational AI users (n = 398) were more likely to have more offline and online bonding and bridging social capital, social trust, and civic participation than non-users (n = 624). For the conversational AI users, intensity and frequency of conversational AI use were the positive predictors of the social capital measures. The findings demonstrated larger effect sizes for online bonding and bridging social capital than offline bonding and bridging social capital.
AB - Media use–social capital research has studied traditional and social media use and associated social capital. Still, little is known about whether social capital would be cultivated or damaged by the use of conversational artificial intelligence (AI). This study explores the associations between conversational AI use and various measures of social capital using a territory-wide survey of an online representative sample in Hong Kong (n = 1022). The results showed that conversational AI users (n = 398) were more likely to have more offline and online bonding and bridging social capital, social trust, and civic participation than non-users (n = 624). For the conversational AI users, intensity and frequency of conversational AI use were the positive predictors of the social capital measures. The findings demonstrated larger effect sizes for online bonding and bridging social capital than offline bonding and bridging social capital.
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - computers are social actors
KW - conversational AI
KW - human–AI interaction
KW - human–machine communication
KW - social capital
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124160986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/14614448221074047
DO - 10.1177/14614448221074047
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1461-4448
VL - 26
SP - 1429
EP - 1444
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
IS - 3
ER -