The AI Genie Phenomenon and Three Types of AI Chatbot Addiction: Escapist Roleplays, Pseudosocial Companions, and Epistemic Rabbit Holes

M. Karen Shen, Jessica Huang, Olivia Liang, Ig-Jae Kim, Dongwook Yoon
1/19/2026
cs.HCcs.AI

No confident code implementation found for this paper.

Abstract

Recent reports on generative AI chatbot use raise concerns about its addictive potential. An in-depth understanding is imperative to minimize risks, yet AI chatbot addiction remains poorly understood. This study examines how to characterize AI chatbot addiction--why users become addicted, the symptoms commonly reported, and the distinct types it comprises. We conducted a thematic analysis of Reddit entries (n=334) across 14 subreddits where users narrated their experiences with addictive AI chatbot use, followed by an exploratory data analysis. We found: (1) users' dependence tied to the "AI Genie" phenomenon--users can get exactly anything they want with minimal effort--and marked by symptoms that align with addiction literature, (2) three distinct addiction types: Escapist Roleplay, Pseudosocial Companion, and Epistemic Rabbit Hole, (3) sexual content involved in multiple cases, and (4) recovery strategies' perceived helpfulness differ between addiction types. Our work lays empirical groundwork to inform future strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and intervention.

View on arXivView PDF

Code Implementations

No confident code match yet

We couldn't find an author-owned or strongly-evidenced community implementation for this paper. Any repos shown below are weak matches — verify before relying on them.

No code implementations found yet.

Know of an implementation? Let us know in the comments below!

Similar Papers

Understanding Risk and Dependency in AI Chatbot Use from User Discourse

84% match2026

Taming Toxic Talk: Using chatbots to intervene with users posting toxic comments

80% match2026

Gendered Pathways in AI Companionship: Cross-Community Behavior and Toxicity Patterns on Reddit

80% match2026

Characterizing Delusional Spirals through Human-LLM Chat Logs

80% match2026

Technological folie à deux: Feedback Loops Between AI Chatbots and Mental Illness

80% match2025

Harm in AI-Driven Societies: An Audit of Toxicity Adoption on Chirper.ai

79% match2026

Cite this paper

@article{shen2026genie,
  title  = {The AI Genie Phenomenon and Three Types of AI Chatbot Addiction: Escapist Roleplays, Pseudosocial Companions, and Epistemic Rabbit Holes},
  author = {M. Karen Shen and Jessica Huang and Olivia Liang and Ig-Jae Kim and Dongwook Yoon},
  year   = {2026},
  eprint = {2601.13348},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url    = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2601.13348v1}
}

Add a badge to your README

Shows whether official code is linked for this paper.

Code of Paper badge
[![Code of Paper](https://codeofpaper.com/badge/2601.13348.svg)](https://codeofpaper.com/paper/2601.13348)

Discussion